


Film It

by peterparkerpanic



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (in later chaps), A little angst, Bisexual Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Crack Treated Seriously, Everyone Ships Adrienette, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Gabriel is a douche, Gay Characters, Happy Ending, M/M, Pansexual Alya Césaire, Youtuber AU, Youtuber Adrien Agreste, adrienette - Freeform, cute couple stuff, eventual angst, has not been proofread, ladybug and chat noir do exist but not a lot, literally just to be cute, literally what would happe if adrien decided to start a youtube account, no beta we die like men, started a little bit as crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-01-04 20:58:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 56,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21204005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterparkerpanic/pseuds/peterparkerpanic
Summary: Adrien Ageste moves away from the camera, and it focusses in on his face. “Uh, hi,” he says, running a hand through his hair to right it. “My name is Adrien Agreste, and this is my first YouTube video.”Adrien's always been good in front of the camera - he figured he had time, and he had drive - why not make a YouTube account? Except, it blew up. With his growing relationship with Marinette - and Ladybug's weird relationship advice - he feels like everybody's eyes are on him. And his fanbase is a little too intuitive...Basically, Adrien gets a YouTube account and lives his best life. Teen and Up for language only





	1. getting things started, because adrien agreste is an attention whore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone! thank u for clicking on my fic <3 i hope it brings you joy.

A bedroom fills the frame, with sunlight coming in from one side. A figure – clad in a white top, blonde – is reaching behind the camera, in a way that you can’t see their face. They move slightly, and the camera goes out of focus. A deep voice curses softly.

A moment later, Adrien Ageste moves away from the camera, and it focusses in on his face. “Uh, hi,” he says, running a hand through his hair to right it from when it flopped into his eyes as he adjusted the camera. “My name is Adrien Agreste, and this is my first YouTube video.”

He pauses, tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip. “To be honest,” he continues, “I’m not all that sure about what to say in one of these introductions. Umm, I model for my father, I’m in Lycée, I’m eighteen years old, and I wanted to try this whole thing out.”

He laughs awkwardly. “My original video plan was just going to be an introduction to the channel – but I did not plan what I was going to say well enough, apparently. Mainly, I think I’ll be vlogging or doing challenges – you guys can see behind the scenes of a few photoshoots I’m in, maybe, and… yeah. Get an inside view, I suppose.”

He claps his hands, but winces at the loud sound. “Sorry,” he says to nobody in particular. “I really thought since I’ve done TV stuff before I’d be good at all this.”

The video cuts suddenly to Adrien with his hair flipped the other way, and slightly less sunlight than before. “Okay, so my volume just… stopped working, and when I realized, I decided I’d wait for the sun to come back out, but it’s been like an hour so… here we are.” He pauses to take a breath, and his hand rubs at a crick in the back of his neck. “I probably won’t have an exact posting schedule, but I’ll film when I can, and I’ll try and get a video out every two weeks – or more, if I have the time.”

He nods. “And you’ll probably get to see my friends, too. I’ll force them to help me out with this. Judging how well this has gone, I need them.”

He laughs to himself, and the light slowly gets brighter until he is squinting through it. “Wow. Perfect timing. I guess that’s where I end the video. Bye, everyone!”

He waves enthusiastically at the camera for several seconds, before reaching over in a position much alike to the one he started the video with, trying to turn off the camera. A loud groan is heard, and a, “Jesus Christ,” before the video finally cuts off.

* * *

Adrien Agreste came into school on Monday morning to be greeted with cheers from his classmates. Nino stood up to greet him with a chuckle and a tap on the back in addition to their usual ‘bro-hug.’

“What is it?” Adrien asked when they pulled away. Nino shrugged, smiling.

“What, you don’t know?” Alya lifted Nino’s arm and snuggled into his side, placing it around her neck. “I doubt that.”

Adrien’s confusion must’ve looked legitimate enough, because Alya let out a huge sigh, getting out her phone. “YouTube? You? To be honest, I never saw this one coming.”

“What?” Adrien laughed. “I made a video. So what?”

“You then posted about your video to your however many million twitter followers, and then to all your fans on Instagram – and you blew up overnight. #AdrienAgreste has been trending for, like, 2 days.”

Adrien reached out a hand to take her phone, bringing it closer to his face. True to her word, he had posted about his video – expecting, maybe, a thousand people to take an interest. But her screen displayed his YouTube homepage (he’d wanted to commission Marinette to make him a header, but was worried the entire thing would be a flop – maybe he’d ask now.) But that wasn’t what caught his attention.

Four million subscribers.

“Already?” He let out a breathless laugh. “But… I could be so bad at this! They don’t even know if they’ll like what I post!”

“They like _you,” _she said with a soft nudge to his shoulder, taking her phone back. “Have you even read the comments?”

He shook his head. Alya clicked a few times.

“’Oh my god, he’s so sweet! I always thought he’d be adorable, but he’s so clueless!’” She recited.

“’If your friends don’t want to help you film, I will!’” Nino read from over her shoulder.

“’He is literally a sunshine child did you see how he got blinded at the end?’”

“’This video is literally so wholesome, I don’t understand,’ and then like three exclamation marks.”

Adrien let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “Holy shit.” He said. “I… I don’t know what I was expecting. This is… this is cool.”

“Cool? Adrien, this is awesome!” Alya laughed. “We should to a video together. I can promote you on the Ladyblog. You’re a Ladybug fan, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And I can make music for your videos!” Nino said. “Well, when I say make, I really mean I can give you my music. It’ll be so cool!”

“I’m really glad you guys are enthusiastic about this.” Adrien said earnestly. His friends caring like this made his chest feel warm. “But I’ve already got a few video ideas lined up – I won’t be able to do the Ladyblog one for a while. But it’s a really cool idea!”

Alya nodded, before her eyes lit up. “You should so do videos with Marinette! Let her teach you how to bake, and sew, and draw, and all that jazz! Model versus designer!”

Adrien paused. “You think she’d be up for that?”

“Yeah, definitely! She’d do anything for her friends.” Alya’s voice dipped at the last word with some implication Adrien couldn’t quite pick up.

The bell rang, and the girl of the minute ran in as it did, textbook in hand, panting. She looked up at the three friends’ meeting spot at the front of the classroom, making eye contact with Adrien. He made sure to smile warmly at her.

She straightened up, cheeks flushed (probably from the running), and gave a small nod of greeting, walking to her seat as Mme. Bustier walked in.

Adrien tried to pay attention to class, he really did. But now ideas for his channel were buzzing around in his mind – and most of them had to do with Marinette.

* * *

A month had passed, and with it, six separate videos had each done incredibly well in their own right. One (his first _real _video) was a slightly sloppily recorded vlog of a photoshoot, with cool backing music (courtesy of Nino) and some actual editing skills. It also featured a cool little jingle of an introduction he’d received as a video clip from a fan, and a professional link to his social media handles at the end, as well as a reminder to ‘subscribe!’. The third had been a room tour (which people went weirdly crazy for), and the fourth was a vlog introduction to his friends (that he titled ‘grwm: school edition' because he now knows what that means, and he needed to add his friends somehow.) The fifth and sixth were both normal – one was a 50 questions, the other a q&a from his Instagram story.

His seventh (or eighth, if you counted the intro video – he didn’t) was where he would properly introduce the wonder that was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, his friend and now editor (she’d offered – her Instagram design account was home to many one-minute videos of her sewing a dress, or modelling it, and required editing skills that Adrien didn’t quite have yet.)

Marinette, in Adrien’s eyes, was many things. A designer. A baker. An ice-cream fanatic. A cat-lover. An everyday Ladybug.

However, somewhere in his brain, he’d expected her to be camera-shy. Whenever she was around him, that’s just how she was. A little bit awkward, but in an endearing way. Some part of him liked that about her. It was honest.

However, when he’d come up with the idea of her and him both trying to design an outfit (Alya’s model versus designer idea had stuck with him), she was completely down for it. They’d arranged a date – which was surprisingly easy, considering his father realized the account was getting them public recognition – and she’d shown up, sketchpad and pencil case in hand, more confident than he remembered ever seeing her.

She was good with the camera – she knew when to joke, when to let him speak, and she assured him several times that awkward pauses and slightly too dirty jokes could be edited out with the click of a button. They were done filming in an hour or two, and after Adrien shut off the camera for the end of the video, he found himself pleased that of all his friends, he’d picked her to be his first real feature.

He’d always wanted to get closer to Marinette. Maybe this was his chance.

“That was so much fun!” She laughed, reaching for the camera to transfer the video onto the laptop she brought with her. “Although, to be honest, I was expecting better from you.”

“Hey!” He objected. “I can’t help it if I’m not blessed with incredible drawing talent.”

“You could pick any prompt you wanted! You were at an advantage!”

“I don’t know what designing prompts are! I picked the first one google recommended.”

Marinette rolled her eyes playfully, making herself comfortable on his sofa. “Well, I get to edit your video now – but after, do you want to play Ultimate Mecha Strike?”

“Sounds good.” Adrien moved to sit next to her, reaching for the remote. “Maybe we could make a video of us playing that.”

“What, and give your subscribers another video of me kicking your ass? Maybe we should leave it a little while, so they can recover.”

“Is that a challenge, Mari?”

“You bet it is, Agreste. I could beat you any day of the week.”

He laughed at her serious face, patting her head. “Yeah, well, if you don’t edit the video, I’ll never learn how to edit videos, and you’ll be so caught up doing my work for me you won’t have time to record that with me.”

She shot him a weird look. “I am not sure whether that made sense or not, but I get it. You’re just scared I’ll wipe the floor with you.”

Adrien laughed again – and soon the laptop was forgotten in favour of both of their favourite video game. After nine consecutive wins for team Marinette, she got back to editing, and he lounged about, doing homework and reading comments.

_Adrien is literally my fave youtuber right now! So glad he decided to start this channel!_

_Skfjrenkdj this video gives me life??? Idk why it’s funny but it is_

_Adrien, your friends are super cute!!! Will we get to see more of them?_

_If only I could like this video more than once :( damn it youtube_

_Awwwww this is so gosh darn cute_

_Oh my god adrien agreste swears pass it on_

His fans really were something else – and most of the attention he received was positive – but there were far too many comments to respond to. He liked the ones he thought were funny, and decided he’d just feel content if he could read them all.

Eventually, Nathalie called him down for dinner (without his father, unsurprisingly) and Marinette had to bid her farewell. But Adrien didn’t feel so bad about being alone, for once – instead, his brain kept replaying the day over in his head. How Marinette had taken on another persona; one he hadn’t known before. How she’d acted in a way he didn’t even know she could – in a way he really liked.

Eventually, late into the night, he received the video file from her. She’d edited it in a comedic sense – making fun of a phrase he’d said at the beginning every time he messed something up. After watching it once, he knew that it was his favourite video yet.

And so, right before he went to sleep, he hit the ‘upload’ button, with an ear-splitting grin on his face.

* * *

_Is that your girlfriend??_

_Oh my god they are so cute together can they adopt like 11 hamsters please_

_Adrien’s friendships really are the cutest!!!_

_Is her name Mari? I LOVE her designs so much!_

_Mark my words those two have chemistry play this video at their wedding_

_Wow I really thought Adrien would be good at designing clothes because he’s the descendant of one of the biggest designers in paris…_

_Nobody:  
Adrien whilst editing: I just think I’ll be ReAlLy GoOd At tHiS!_

_Can we have like an hour long vlog of their interactions please I love it already_

_Y’all when Adrien said marinette was talented he was not lying go check out her insta it’s beautiful wtf_

_They are both so pretty my bisexual is quaking_

* * *

Adrien woke to a flurry of activity he wasn’t properly prepared for. He’d woken late – sue him, it was a Sunday morning – and to a flooded phone, mostly messages from Chloe and Alya. Chloe had taken a slight interest in his account; the two of them had talked about what they’d do with youtube accounts. But she never asked to be in one of his videos.

Alya, on the other hand, was freaking out.

‘Why does it look like you two are dating?’ she’d said. ‘Also, why didn’t l know you two were filming together?’

Adrien let out a soft groan, stretching his arms over his head and jostling his sleeping kwami in the process. Plagg mumbled something about cheese in his sleep, rolling over.

Oh well. After he looked at his phone, he could never get back to sleep. Nine was late enough of a lie in, anyway. He could get up.

Thirty minutes later and Adrien had showered and was ready to start his day as best as he could. He had some homework to catch up on, but mostly he wanted to read through what his subscribers wanted from his channel. He also wanted to shoot Marinette a text – check that she wasn’t mad about all the media attention.

**A: Hey, Marinette. Have you checked the video yet?**

**M: I woke up about an hour ago, and yeah.**

**A: I’m really sorry for all the attention.**

**M: Sorry?**

**M: Adrien, my Instagram follow count like tripled within the hour after that video was posted.**

**M: I’ve received like 100 new commissions.**

**M: There is nothing to be sorry about**

**M: Although, editing your videos may take a little longer now haha**

**A: That’s okay!! Now that you’ve shown me the ropes, I can probably do most of my editing**

**A: I more wanted to ask you about the theories that we’re dating**

**A: Does it bother you?**

**M: I get that fans are a bit invasive**

**M: Right now, it’s ok. If people start harassing me though, I’ll let you know.**

**M: Thanks for checking in, though**

**A: Anytime**

**A: Oh, and Marinette?**

**A: We should film another video together soon**

**M: Deal.**

* * *

“Hi everyone! Adrien whispered to the camera. “I usually bring my camera to record with, but I’m out for lunch in between Lycée hours with friends, and I forgot it at home! Sorry!”

The camera shifts to show Alya, Nino and Marinette sitting on a picnic blanket in a park. Nino is playing something on his phone, and Alya and Marinette are singing their hearts out – to ‘I Want It That Way.’

Adrien snickers and does his best to zoom in subtly. He’s standing, a couple of feet away, and eventually decides that he should forget secretiveness and just outright record them.

Alya’s voice quietens slightly, but Marinette chuckles at the sight of Adrien’s phone, taking it from him and serenading the camera complete with hand gestures and a surprisingly good voice. Adrien laughs, and tries to get the phone back, but whilst singing, Marinette somehow manages to dodge him.

Eventually, she trips onto the blanket and he takes the opportunity to tickle at her sides. Nino picks up the phone and catches the sight of her trying to wriggle away, and him laughing as he continues tickling her. Alya tackles Adrien from behind, and Marinette recovers for a second before helping Alya commence a tickle attack on Adrien himself.

It takes less than a minute for Adrien to be almost crying with laughter and begging the two girls to stop. Alya collapses off of Adrien first, staring up at the sky. Marinette follows, and then all three of them are looking upwards at the clouds. Adrien pauses to catch his breath, eyes darting to the camera in Nino’s hands. “I forgot it was recording,” he says softly, smiling.

Behind the phone, Nino gives him a large grin. “I got every moment dude. I think people will love it.”

“Look at that cloud. It’s a top hat.” Alya says, pointing upwards. From besides her, Marinette squints.

“No way. That one’s a guitar or something.”

Alya’s jaw drops open in mock horror. “Are we looking at the same thing?” she asks, tilting her head. “Because that is not a damn guitar.”

Nino points the phone to the sky, and Adrien takes a moment to scan it for the cloud the girls are bickering over.

“Hate to say it, babe, but Marinette is right. It’s a guitar.” Nino says.

Adrien nods. “How does that look like a top hat?”

“Oh, shut up! Now you guys are just bullying me.” You can hear the pout in Alya’s voice, and Adrien sits up, grinning at her.

“Sorry, Alya. Maybe there will be a real top-hat cloud later. For now, we should get back to school.”

Marinette nods, pulling herself up to sit, and then reaching for Adrien to make him help her get up. He obeys, taking her hands and lugging her up. She laughs, brushing dust or grass off her legs.

Nino hands him his phone back, and he turns it onto selfie mode. “Well, that’s it, everyone!” He says, making sure to catch a shot of Nino and Marinette packing up the blanket. “Usually our lunches aren’t this exciting, but it was a beautiful day, and Marinette’s parents made us a great picnic basket. Thanks for tuning in! Don’t forget to like, and subscribe. I’ll see you all later!”

He waves at the camera – a sort of tradition he’s adopted, and his three friends pause what they’re doing to wave too. Adrien smiles, stopping the video.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos or comments or both, if you're feeling brave, if you liked it!! Thank you so much for reading!!!!
> 
> <3333333333 <-- for u all


	2. baking and superheroes are completely unrelated topics, and should be treated as such

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette make another video together. Chat Noir, apparently, really likes YouTube.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, yeeting this chapter at y'all: it's a bit sloppy but i've been on-again off-again writing it for the past two days, and it's the best i could do
> 
> also me: sorry for typos i have no beta and i have not proofread

“Hi everyone, Adrien Agreste here!” Adrien is in his usual setting – on his bed, with a blank white wall and a door behind him. “Today I’m making a video that my friend suggested, which is dressing up as different movie characters for a week! It’s Halloween soon, and whilst France doesn’t really celebrate, I like the idea! Because I don’t usually go out for anything other than business on the weekends, I’ll be wearing them to school and catching my friend’s reactions!”

He reaches to somewhere just off screen, and pulls back a red leather jacket and jeans. “For the first outfit, I’ll be dressing up as Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy, but minus the mask, because that’s a bit excessive. Usually people don’t go full out, they make it seem as natural as possible – so I’m going to try and go all week without my friends realizing who I’m dressed as!”

He winks into the camera, and a second later, he is standing in the costume, holding his vlogging camera. “Okay, I’m about to go to school, so wish me luck everyone!”

There is a time lapse of him driving to school, mostly on his phone, sometimes talking to the gorilla, with the scenery moving around outside the window. When he arrives, he waves at something behind the camera, picks it up, and gets out of the car.

“Hey Nino!” Adrien greets, turning the camera to show Nino in his signature red cap.

“Woah, dude, what are you _wearing?” _Nino asks.

Adrien chuckles. “is it really that bad?”

“It’s a little bit of a catastrophe. I’m surprised your dad let you out of the house.”

Adrien shrugged, spotting Alya out of the corner of his eye. She made a ‘be quiet’ motion, sneaking up behind Nino.

Nino, oblivious, continued. “Oh well, I guess he can’t really do anything now that you’re-“

“Boo!” Alya calls, hands landing oh his shoulders, and Adrien watches through the camera as Nino jumps about a foot in the air, arms coming up to defend himself. By the time he reaches the floor, Alya and Adrien have both cracked up, all whilst Nino tries to regain his breath.

“Hey,” Alya says. “What are you wearing?”

“I’m doing the Halloween costumes thing you recommended.”

“Oh,” she nods. “And who are you?”

“Star Lord!” He turns to her offendedly. “You’ve seen Guardians of the Galaxy, right?”

“Woah, not my forte,” she puts her hands up in surrender. “Go talk geek with Marinette – if she gets here on time.”

“Oh, right.” Adrien checks his watch. “Well, nobody recognised me today… yet. I’ll see you all tomorrow, with the next look!”

He shuts off the camera, and Alya gives him an eyebrow.

“What?”

“I know Mari’s into geeky stuff, but I don’t think anyone – not even her – can like that outfit.”

He frowned, putting his camera in his bag and muttering a playful, “rude,” as he passed her. He needed to get to his locker.

Just as he entered the locker room, from behind him, he he heard his name being called. “Adrien!” Marinette yelled as she ran like she did every morning, waving at him. “Wait a second.”

He paused in the doorway to hold it open when she slowed into a walk, passing him. “Hey,” she said after gulping in a large breath of air.

“Morning, Marinette. Is everything okay?”

She nodded quickly. “I just… wanted to let you know that your profile picture is finished. I emailed it to you before I left. A couple of minutes ago.”

Adrien’s eyes must’ve brightened as much as his heart was feeling, because Marinette grinned at his reaction as he reached for his phone.

“Woah, Marinette, this is… incredible,” he said honestly, opening the link she’d emailed him. It was a photo of him, but drawn in her cute, sketchy way, and she’d given him stars around his head and a flower crown.

“Thank you. I’m glad you like it.”

“But how did you finish it so fast?” He looked up at her. “I sent you the commission, like, two days ago.”

“What can I say?” She chuckled softly. “You did pay me.”

“Not enough. This is incredible.”

She smiled at him gratefully. “I am really happy that you like it. If you don’t, though, I can totally re-do it-“

“No!” He laughed. “Walk with me to my locker?”

She nodded, a flush coming to her cheeks that he loved, and they began to walk through the aisles of lockers. “I was thinking about more video ideas,” he started, “and I had an idea that I need you for.”

“Yeah?” She asked. “Well, proposition me. What is it?”

He paused at his locker to open it, and looked at her for a second. Her eyes widened, and a hand slapped itself over her mouth. Her cheeks, if possible, deepened in colour.

“Oh god, that is _not _what I meant, I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine!” Adrien laughed. “God, I should keep my camera on whilst I’m around you. You always manage to say the best things.”

“Shut up,” she mumbled through her hand, flush now coating the entirety of her face. “What’s the video idea?”

“Well, I was thinking, you could teach me how to bake. A few masterclasses – croissants, cookies…”

“That’s… I’m… My baking isn’t that good?”

“Are you kidding?” He asked. “Marinette, I’ve had the stuff you make. It’s always incredible.”

“No, you’ve had the stuff my parents make.” She scrunched up her nose. “I’m alright at baking, but I’m really clumsy – so I always spill stuff everywhere. I need one-on-one supervision if I want to get something good.”

“Well… that’s even better! It’ll be fun! We can fail at baking together!” Adrien shut his locker, having stuffed everything that needed to go in there, in. “But we’d probably have to do it at your house. My chef really doesn’t like me that much.”

“Oh!” she clicked her fingers as a realization hit her. “I can make brownies really well – and bread. The easy ones.”

“Aren’t cookies easy?”

“Depends on which type you want to make. And we could so do it at my house. Filming a baking video in a bakery – who would’ve thought?”

“Great!” He gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder. “Are you free this weekend?”

She nodded. “Can you do Saturday morning?”

He grinned. “Someone’s eager to see me. Can’t wait until Sunday?”

Her cheeks flared up again and he laughed, pushing the classroom door open for her. “Just kidding. I’ll see you Saturday?”

Marinette mumbled her affirmation, moving to sit next to Alya, who, after one glance at her best friend, shot an accusatory stink-eye Adrien’s way. He sighed, smiling, and took his seat besides Nino.

“Hey, dude,” Nino leant over. “What were you talking with Marinette about?”

“Just a video idea,” he said. Nino opened his mouth to ask another question, but Mme. Bustier entered, sufficiently silencing the entire class.

* * *

“Hey everyone! I’m Adrien Agreste, and today I’m back with my good friend Marinette,” Adrien made a large gesture to Mari, who smiled sheepishly and offered a short wave to the camera. “Now,” he continued, “you may notice we’re no longer in my normal setting – but that’s because today, I will be learning how to bake, and we kind of need a kitchen for that!”

“At first, the plan was for Marinette to teach me, because her parents are really good bakers, but apparently she’s horrible-” Adrien was cut off by a shove in the arm, and a playful pout on Marinette’s face. He chuckled.

“I’m not _horrible,” _she defended, arms crossing over her chest. “I’m just… a bit clumsy.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “A bit?”

“Shut up!” She turned to the camera, offering it an award-winning smile. “Anyway, let’s get on with the baking!”

“Right,” Adrien looked around at the stuff they had in front of them to right himself. “First, we’ll be making brownies, which should be easy – and then we’ll make cookies?”

“Yeah, and then we’ll do a taste test!” She said enthusiastically.

“Okay.” He nodded. “Where do we start?”

Twenty minutes later, and Adrien was covered in flour, whilst Marinette was pouring the completed mix into a baking tray. “So, it said the prep time was about fifteen minutes, but, as to be expected, we went a little over,” she narrated. “But this is our mix before it goes in the oven!”

She holds it towards the camera, and it slides dangerously close to the edge before she realizes, pulling it back. “Adrien doesn’t like to admit it, but he’s the one who dropped the flour on himself – so we’ll probably take a short break so that he can clean himself, I can clean the counter, and we can get ready to bake cookies.”

“Woah, I spilled the flour?” Adrien asked. “You walked right into me!”

“The _footage _will show that you were literally holding the flour. I moved to grab something and startled you. It’s not my fault you’re jumpy.”

She pouted in mock sympathy, and Adrien, in a weird act of rebellion, grabbed a handful of flour and threw it in her face. “Ha!” The sound came out before he could stifle it, and Marinette wiped two fingers over her eyes before opening them – releasing her death glare.

Instead of saying anything, she reached for an egg, tapping it on the side of the counter, and cracking it over his head. Adrien, shocked, just stood there and let it sop down his face, as she threw the yolk into a dirty bowl.

“Try me, Agreste,” she challenged. “I know where everything in this kitchen is.”

He grabbed what he could of the egg in one handful, and smeared it across her cheek. “We’re even now, right?”

“No chance! You got the flour on yourself! I have the right to pour something else on you.”

“No you don’t!”

“Yes I do!”

He sighed. “Fine. I’ll put this video out, and in the comments, after watching everything, the viewers can decide. If I’m right, nothing happens. If you’re right, we’ll make a special video where you get to pour any food you want on me.”

“Anything?” She asked slowly.

He gulped. “Anything.”

“Alright!” Her response was chipper, and she turned back to the camera. “I guess both of us have to clean up, then – but we’ll be back to make cookies soon!”

He turned off the camera, and moved to look back at Marinette. By now, she’d wiped off as much flour as she could from her face, although the egg whites were still smeared there – and she was moving about the kitchen like an expert, gathering things to wash up, and things to throw away.

After a second, she turned to look at him. He must’ve looked like a dork, just standing there, silently.

“What, do you want to lick the spoon?” She teased.

He nodded, and she extended it so that he could take it from her. Even though the brownies hadn’t been made yet, he could tell that they would taste really damn good.

She flitted around him, continuing to clean, and seemed to sense when he was done with the spoon, outstretching a hand blindly for him to pass it to her. She avoided him like it was second nature – it did something to his chest.

It was just so… domestic, was the word. He’d never experienced anything like it. Of course, his mother was a little like this, he assumed – but with a personal chef, there was never any family time in the kitchen, baking cakes, or anything like that. Doing this with Marinette was… sweet. It was nice.

When finally finished, she turned back to him, hands on her hips. “Hey,” she said. “Weren’t you going to turn off the camera?”

His head whipped to the side, to see the signature red button that told them he’d forgotten to turn it off, or something. He rushed over, closing the camera, and turning back to her.

“Must’ve… forgotten, or missed, or something. Whoops.”

She paused for a second, before shrugging it off. “Come on,” she beckoned for him to follow as she led the way out of the room. “We should get that face cleaned up. My brownies are going to burn.”

And, like a fool, he followed her.

“Your brownies?” He argued as the warmth in his chest grew as she led him around her house. “We made them _together.”_

“Oh, did we? Because I remember someone throwing a little bit of a hairy fit after getting flour all over them.”

“You must be thinking of another blonde,” he teased.

She stopped outside a door, and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Your viewers will tell you what’s up. Get clean.”

She pushed open the door to reveal the smallest, cutest, most Marinette-like bathroom ever (in the sense that it was pink, and that was it.) He nodded, barely able to smile back at her before she was off to some separate bathroom, probably to change her clothes – a luxury he didn’t exactly have whilst at someone else’s house.

He closed the bathroom door behind her. He’d never really felt that way about Marinette before. He hadn’t really felt that way about _anyone _before. Not even Nino, and he considered Nino to be his best friend.

Maybe Marinette should be his best friend, if she made him feel like that?

* * *

Within the hour, Adrien had footage for an entire video, and a box full of brownies and cookies that Marinette couldn’t keep, because ‘she already had enough pastries in her house’. He sat in his room, trying to discreetly eat a brownie without dropping any crumbs or smearing anything on his face or teeth so he could act natural if Nathalie barged in.

He’d been editing the video for a while – but he’d only just gotten to the part where he forgot to turn off the camera. It was clear that he was about to reach over to turn off the camera, but Marinette’s humming seemed to distract him.

She seemed like she didn’t realize she was humming. At the time, _he _didn’t realize she was humming.

The events played out – he took the spoon, and watched for a solid five minutes as she flittered around him, touching just about every surface in that room. He looked a little bit like an enraptured child watching a really good cartoon.

He also looked a little bit like the ‘heart eyes’ thing that Alya had explained to him, once.

“It’s simple,” she had said. “Heart eyes is when someone looks at someone else that they’re really in love with. It’s like the heart eyes emoji, except in human form.”

“I don’t understand,” Adrien had said. “How can you make a heart emoji in real life?”

Alya had laughed at that. “Trust me when I say you’ll just know when you know.”

But that was silly. He couldn’t be making ‘heart eyes’ at Marinette; he didn’t love Marinette (as anything more than a friend – he loved all his friends.) (Yes, even Chloe.)

He probably should’ve cut that section out of the video, but Marinette had a surprisingly good voice – well, not surprising, but even though she was renowned for her many talents, singing had never been one, really – and if he had the footage, he could just timelapse it or something. It was cute. It showed their dynamic well. It saved them having to explain what had happened between shooting and not shooting.

And, a small part of him reminded his conscious, he really liked that domesticity thing.

* * *

It was joint patrol night every Wednesday, which meant that at 9pm on the dot, Chat was expected to meet Ladybug on the top of the Eiffel Tower for an hour of usually pointless walking around Paris, and not-so-pointless talking about anything and everything. For a while, it was the highlight of his week. It still was one of his top three moments (the other was Monday morning, when he could see his friends after two days of being apart) – but he had come to love the points where, in the week, after he’d posted a video, the comments came streaming in.

Because his videos were relatively short (twenty minutes at their maximum) – within ten, he’d usually start getting comments about people’s general reactions to the video. That early on, there usually wasn’t any negativity – only the sweet fans that managed to catch the video after two minutes of being out, and boasted about being one of the first one hundred to like it. Most of his fanbase was just that – sweet – and that was why he liked to stay on his video for about a half hour after it released, reading every comment.

Except, uploading this one had taken longer than expected, and at five minutes to nine it had finally gone up – leaving him zero time to sit and read comments, and four and a half minutes to haul ass up to the Eiffel Tower that was not four and a half minutes away.

(Chat Noir, however, prided himself on speed. He made it there in two.)

But after five minutes with no Ladybug, he figured, hell, why not just get out his phone and check the reactions now? What harm could it do? Ladybug wasn’t here, and he couldn’t start patrol without her.

_Holy shit what is their ship name I need wedding photos_

_Adrienette is so cute!!!! I love their dynamic_

_Ksjhgrekodfij I wish I could bake_

_Now im hungry both for food and for more cute af interactions_

_Uhm hello I came here for good content I did not expect to be given this day my daily bread_

_My crops are watered my skin is clear my homework is done my life is complete_

_LOOK AT HIS FACE WHILST SHE’S CLEANING I’M IN LOVE_

_No, he’s in love, sis_

_THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY HOLY MOTHER OF THE LORD_

_Adrien if you’re reading this pretty please ask that girl on a date do us all a favour_

_If they go out do you think he’d record it because half of me wants to see their date but the other half bets they’d get along better without the awkwardness of the camera_

_If they don’t film their date, they’ll film their wedding so don’t worry_

“Evening, kitty.” Ladybug called from behind him, and he jumped, almost dropping his phone.

“Oh my god, My Lady, you scared me,” he let out a short breath, placing a hand against his chest.

“Yeah, I could see that.” She smiled, walking slowly towards him. “What are you watching?”

“Me?” He looked to his phone. “Oh, uhh… nothing.”

“Nothing?” She asked. “What, is it porn or something?”

“No!” His voice rose in shock, and Ladybug’s lips twisted upwards in a smirk.

“Then what?” She stepped closer, still. “We’re supposed to be partners, Chaton. You can tell me anything.”

“Fine.” He fought the blush on his cheeks, praying that her lack of night vision could keep it from her. “You know that model, Adrien Agreste?”

Ladybug pulled back. He took it as a sign to continue. “Well, he made a youtube video, and I was… bored, waiting for you, so I watched the video, and then I was reading the comments.”

“Yeah?” She asked. “Was the video good?”

“I think so,” he said. “I mean, I liked it. He did it with his friend, Marinette – I’ve met her a couple times. She’s really cool.”

“Oh?” Ladybug’s voice came out kind of choked – and Adrien squinted to get a better look at her. “Why don’t we watch the video, then?”

He couldn’t do anything but nod, and let her take a seat besides him whilst he got the video to replay.

Adrien couldn’t lie; he wasn’t watching the video. He was, instead, trying to very subtly, get a look of what Ladybug was thinking as _she _watched the video. Ladybug, protector of Paris, his partner, was watching his YouTube video.

As always, she was pretty neutral; until the section he’d now dubbed his favourite part of the video – where Marinette started humming, and cleaning up. “She’s a good singer, isn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Ladybug cleared her throat. “Great.”

As it went on, Ladybug’s cheeks slowly got redder, until she was sporting a cutish blush that outstretched to her nose. Was she cold, maybe?

“Well… I get why you liked that video. It was good. But why did you want to hide it from me?”

Well, gee, he didn’t know; because she may or may not connect the dots and figure out he was reading the comments of his own video?

“Do you have a crush on Adrien Agreste or something?”

His face, he was sure, as well as the rest of him, spontaneously combusted. He could probably rival a damn fire truck right now – smoke coming out of his ears and all.

“What, did I hit the nail on the head?” Ladybug teased softly. “It’s okay. If you’re bisexual or something, I mean. I am too. I get it.”

He didn’t say anything, and she took the chance to continue. “I get the Adrien Agreste thing, too. He’s a well known model. We’re about his age, right? And, I mean, half of Europe is attracted to him as well – it wouldn’t be a bad target.”

“T-target?” He stuttered out.

Ladybug laughed. “Sorry. That must have sounded weird. But, I bet as Chat Noir, you have a fighting chance. I mean, everyone loves superheroes, right?”

“Right. Yeah.”

“You should visit his balcony or something. If he has one. That sounds rom-com like. Who knows; maybe you’ll hit it off?”

“Can we start patrolling now?” He asked finally, the wind from this high up a very much needed reprieve for his boiling skin.

“Yeah, of course. Sorry if I embarrassed you, kitty.” She laughed. “Listen; I won’t bring it up anymore if you don’t want me to, okay?”

He nodded. Not bring it up again. Him having a crush on himself.

Ladybug’s face changed. “I bet I can beat you for our patrol route!”

Before he could think up some equally competitive response, she had already set off. He pocketed his phone and flew after her.

Oh well. It was a bit of a sticky predicament – but at least she didn’t figure out his identity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop this chapter was originally going to go down a whole other route but here you go!!! I hope you enjoyed!!!
> 
> Leave kudos and comments!!! I would love to know your thoughts :)
> 
> also if you like the anonymity thing, my tumblr is @bumble--bree so send an ask on there! (also just add me up i made a sub-tumblr today and i am a shameless self promoter)
> 
> also did y'all catch that adrien that little bitch called mari his 'good friend' i am fuming at my own hands it needed to be done i know i wrote it but that boy is as oblivious as it gets


	3. sexuality is a serious sentence starter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien comes to terms with himself. Marinette plays matchmaker. Then, Adrien gets what's coming to him - literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is me, on a roll. I woke up at 6 this morning and this just flowed. maybe i had a dream about more gay stuff than i could handle, and this was my way to get back to a normal level.
> 
> (if you can't tell, this chapter is about Gay with a capitol G.)

Adrien liked to consider himself a put together kind of person. He thought everything through; he was logical, rational, calm. Good under pressure.

But, for the life of him, he could not stop thinking about Ladybug’s admittance that she was bisexual, of all things.

What did that mean? (well, obviously, he knew what it _meant – _but the implications?) Did that mean she had crushes on girls? Was she dating one?

Of all the things they talked about in their patrols, Ladybug’s talk of the ‘boy she was in love with’ had slowly dissipated, until she didn’t really talk about her love life anymore. “It’s to protect our civilian identities,” she’d told him once, when he asked her why she wouldn’t tell him. “Besides, my love life isn’t that interesting – we’ve got better things to discuss.”

He… he wanted to be _there _for her. He wanted to be supportive.

He’d never thought about his own orientation before. He just kind of figured he was straight – considering the only person he’d ever been in love with is Ladybug herself. But… he had felt _something _for Luka when they first met, and he’d harboured the smallest of crushes on Nathaniel for about a week. Plus, he couldn’t deny that if Kim ever came out as anything other than straight, he would shoot his shot.

Huh. Maybe _he _was bisexual.

He had people he could talk to about this – friends – that were also bisexual. Like Juleka (although that would be a bit weird, because he’d have to confess his crush on her brother.) Or Alya! But she wasn’t bi, either – she considered herself pan. Nino had always been pretty open with that kind of stuff, but he felt… weird, thinking about talking about this with him.

Marinette. She’d come out at fifteen and hadn’t backed down since – he remembered photos from her at pride every year. She… she seemed knowledgeable. The right person to talk to about this. Just because she was the most experienced. Nothing else.

So, come Thursday lunch time, he cornered her (not in a creepy way, or anything – he just didn’t want anyone else hearing.)

“Marinette?” He asked. “Can I… can we talk?”

“Yeah, sure,” she gestured for Alya to go ahead, standing. “What’s up?”

He looked around at the few stragglers, packing their bags and holding their own conversations whilst getting ready to exit. “I, uh.”

She followed his gaze. “Oh.” She said. “It’s okay. We can wait. Or we can go somewhere else, if you’d prefer. The library?”

He could only nod, and she picked up her bag, leading the two through the now-busy halls of people bustling to get to lunch. The walk, usually, was short – but with everyone trying to go the opposite direction so they could leave for a while, only to have to come back for afternoon classes, it took more like five minutes to try and cut their own path.

Five minutes of Adrien’s mind piling worry on top of worry.

What if he was faking it? Like he said – he’d only ever been in _love _with one person – and that was a girl. Could he see himself dating both genders? Well, yeah, probably. But some part of him felt like he was making all of this up for attention, or something.

“Okay,” she said when they finally found a table to sit in right at the back of the school library. “What do you want to talk about?”

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. His cheeks heated. God. How embarrassing.

“Do you want to film it? I don’t know what it is, but talking to a camera is probably a lot less intimidating than talking to me.”

That… that wasn’t half a bad idea. He could rewatch the footage if he was confused – Marinette was good with advice, and he wanted to remember it.

He nodded, and she got out her phone, standing it against a group of books she pulled off the shelves. It sat so that it was focussed on him, but she was also in frame.

“I think I’m bisexual.” He blurted suddenly, about thirty seconds into the recording. “But… I don’t know if I am, and I know that _you _are, so I want to know how you found out?”

He didn’t turn to Marinette to see her reaction, but on her phone screen, he could see her trying to suppress a smile. “What?” He asked.

“Sorry. It’s just… half the class has a bet on when you’ll come out. If I knew you were still figuring it out, I’d have offered to have this conversation with you ages ago.”

“How- how did they…”

“You had a crush on Nathaniel, right?” She asked. Adrien’s cheeks flushed, and he raised a hand to scratch at the back of his neck. He nodded, slowly.

“And what about Kim?”

“I didn’t have a crush on him, I just… appreciated his physique.”

Marinette nodded. “So what’s the problem?”

“How did you know that out of all the labels, you were _bisexual?”_

“Labels didn’t really matter to me. At the end of the day, there’s usually a label for just about anything – I picked the one I preferred, and the one I related to the most. Plus, the bisexual flag has all the best colours.”

“So you just… pick the one you like the most?”

“Well, basically. Nobody can critique the way you identify yourself – and you can always change your labels, or you don’t even have to fit into a label – like Nino. It’s a hundred percent your decision.”

“I… I like bisexual.”

Marinette smiled. “Me, too. And I know your birthday is coming up – I can get you one of these little flag pins.”

Adrien’s eyebrows drew together. “Flag pins?”

“Yup! I got one for everyone in our class who came out. You don’t have to wear it, of course, but… it’s nice to have.”

“But- My father-“

“Other than the all-out rainbow flag, I find that most parents are oblivious to colours. I wore my pin for a week, and my mom just thought it was because I liked the colour scheme.”

“And how did your parents react?”

“They were a little bit confused, but overall supportive. They didn’t know bisexual was a thing that existed – and they don’t really get Alya and Nino yet. But they’re doing their best, you know?”

He nodded. “It sounds nice.”

“And there’s pride, and now you can look at all the gay memes and relate… like, 99 percent of the time the LGBT community is the best. Like a fandom, but less problematic, and for gays.”

“How did you figure out you liked girls?”

Marinette smiled. “Well, I had my suspicions after I watched Catwoman, but it just kind of… crept up on me. I’m a little bummed I didn’t have that moment that gays talk about where they just kind of clicked.”

She turned to him. “What about you? Who were your celebrity guy crushes?”

“Well, Sebastian Stan, for one.” He said with more confidence. “The more that I think about it, I really like the superhero kind of thing – him as Bucky Barnes did it for me.”

“So, superheroes?” Marinette smirked. “What about Carapace?”

Adrien shrugged. “I don’t really know him, but he is cute.”

“Okay, then how about Chat Noir? Do you like him?”

Adrien paused. How on _earth _did Marinette figure out Ladybug had basically asked him the same question last night?

“Well- I- Uh… I mean, I guess? I- I’ve never… thought about him. Like that, I mean.”

“I don’t know, but from my experience, that sounds like a crush.” Marinette laughed. “It’s okay. I mean, if I had the chance, I would totally go out with Ladybug.”

Adrien’s face, if possible, heated up even more. “Me too!” He agreed, banishing the very strange thoughts of Marinette (a confirmed bisexual) and Ladybug (also a confirmed bisexual) going on a date. Something about it stirred a certain feeling up inside him – and not an unpleasant one.

“Well I get why everyone attracted to women likes her. She’s toned, because she runs around all day.” Marinette chuckled. “Man, this is weird to think about.”

“Why? I understand why everyone likes her – she’s so nice, and brave, and courageous, and empathetic – and she isn’t exactly lacking in the looks department.”

Marinette elbowed him in the shoulder. “What?” He laughed. “I thought you agreed with me.”

“This is a discussion about your sexuality, not a ‘let’s be in love with Ladybug for an hour’ video.”

Adrien nodded. “Sorry, sorry.”

She smiled. “I’m glad you figured it out, though. And I’m happy you trust me enough to have this conversation with _me.”_

Adrien nodded. “I think… well, you were always really open with yourself, and you’ve always been good with advice – so it just made sense for me to come to you.”

He turned to her for probably the first time in that entire conversation – and Marinette’s chest swelled before she lunged at him for a slightly violent hug.

“Woah…” he chuckled. “What’s this for?”

“Because you’re a really cool person, sexuality and all.” She mumbled into his shoulder. “Oh – and because you won me like 100 euros from everyone in our class.”

He pulled away. “Wait, what? Who won?”

* * *

The original plan with the footage that Marinette had sent him (which was literally twenty minutes of them messing around, and about five of serious conversation) was to keep it, and rewatch it whenever he felt conflicted about himself in the same way that he had. It also took off the pressure of having to stare Marinette in the eyes as he made his confession. But now he was sitting in front of his computer, having edited the video (and it was a fun one to edit – he’d added in little photos of flags whenever the orientation came up, and at the end, after the links to his and Marinette’s social medias, he’d put a page for LGBT+ helplines around the globe) and feeling the desperate urge to post it.

People needed role models, he reminded himself – something Marinette had said to him in the midst of their conversation. “I may not be famous enough to reach people – but having someone you know is gay out there makes it a little less nerve wracking for everyone else,” she’d continued.

It was a good argument. One he wanted to stick by.

So, he uploaded the video. It wasn’t scheduled – he’d just push back his next video or something to make up for it. It was a short video – twelve minutes long.

He called it ‘Surprise!’ and some part of him really did hope that his father saw it.

* * *

_Oh my god this explains so much Adrien Agreste is a disaster bisexual send help_

_ADRIENETTE MORE LIKE ADRINOIR AM I RIGHT_

_Someone call ladybug and chat noir there are many horny teenagers that would like to confess their love_

_I feel loved this video is the sweetest thing_

_IM BISEXUAL 2 YOU GUYS BETTER GO TO PRIDE_

_Jjoefkdoejr I know pride is like half a year away but can they please go together_

_Im so proud of our sunshine baby look at him he’s growing up_

_Y’ALL I CALLED IT_

_Lmao betting on whether your classmate will come out or not is so relatable I can’t even comprehend_

_Adrien needs to go out with chat noir or ladybug or both_

_We’re all talking about AdriNoir but Maribug??? MariLady??? A match made in heaven_

_I know this was a besties kind of convo but I still ship it so hard holy shit_

* * *

The support was… uncanny. There was just so much of it. After publishing the video, then going to fencing class, then watching anime for like an hour, he’d expected that the total silence from his peers social-media wise was because they either hadn’t noticed, or it didn’t really change anything for them.

Of course, when he came into school, and there was no Nino and Alya waiting for him, he got suspicious. Had they slept in, or something?

But then he got into the classroom and pink, purple and blue confetti was sprinkled over him as well as a cute little cupcake on his desk.

“What’s all this for?” He laughed, looking around. There was a huge flag on his desk – almost as tall as him – with a CONGRATULATIONS, AGRESTE written on top of it.

“You, you idiot!” Alix said as she punched him playfully in the arm. “We all had to pay Marinette our bet money – but she used it, or most of it, to buy all of this for you!”

He looked around the classroom until his eyes found Marinette, standing next to her desk, a faint, contented smile on her face. ‘You did this for me?’ he mouthed.

She nodded, a soft smile on her face, and Adrien couldn’t help it – he moved past Alix and Nino and Kim, and dropped into Marinette’s hug.

“Thank you,” his voice came out sort of choked. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she patted his head comfortingly, picking out a piece of confetti. “Your pin hasn’t arrived – and you won’t get it until your birthday.”

He pulled back, and he was bleary-eyed from happy tears, and there was a collective ‘aww’ before he was being bundled up in his friend’s arms, one by one. He sniffled, letting out a laugh onto Nino’s shoulder, because he was closest.

“Thank you, everyone.” He said softly, pulling back so he could wipe at his eyes and his nose. He was sure they were both a little red – tell-tale signs he got when he cried – but he didn’t exactly care, because his smile was overpowering everything. “I… I was a little bit scared, to be honest.”

“Your video made me cry!” Someone yelled, and everyone laughed.

“I…” Adrien tried to continue, but the gratitude couldn’t quite put itself into words in his head. Instead, he turned to Marinette, offering another smile, and mouthing ‘thank you’ yet again.

She shook her head. ‘Any time,’ she mouthed back.

If he wasn’t sure before, he was now. The warm feeling in his chest came back at full force. Marinette was _definitely _his best friend. Because best friends pulled things like this for each other – and best friends were the only type of friend that made you feel like this… right?

* * *

“Hi Adrien Agreste fans, I am not Adrien Agreste!” Alya greeted as she held Adrien’s video camera. “You’ve met me a couple of times – my name is Alya Césaire! I run the Ladyblog, but I’m making a special appearance to show you what we’ve got set up.”

She moves the camera away from her face, doing a sort of panorama around the room. “As you can see, we are in Adrien’s room,” she starts, “and Adrien and Marinette are here! Say hey!”

They both wave at the camera. “I’m sure Nino’s here, too; he probably went to the bathroom or something.” She continued. “Anyway, the main reason I’m the one filming is because we’re doing a thing where Marinette pours a bunch of gross stuff all over Adrien!”

Marinette claps her hands excitedly, and Adrien frowns. “I can’t believe my own fans betrayed me.”

“Oh please, they just love me so much that they want me on the channel even more. I don’t blame them.” She shoved him playfully. “Now sit!”

He did just that, and she wrapped a towel around his neck – as if he was getting a haircut. “Can’t get any of those designer labels you wear gross, can we?” She tutted, tying it in a knot at the back of his neck.

“That is… so comforting. What could you possibly pour on me?”

“Anything I want, apparently.” She smiled, and Nino came out from Adrien’s bathroom.

Marinette turned to him. “Is everything set up?” She asked, grinning. He nodded.

“What on earth are you pouring on me?” He asked.

“Well… it’s not exactly pouring, more… putting on your head and leaving for a half hour!” Marinette said as if she were proud with the explanation. Adrien looked scared.

Before he could interject, Alya had placed the camera on a tripod, and gave the trio a thumbs up to say they could begin with the integral part of the video.

“Today,” Marinette said, an almost childish glee in her tone, “we get justice for that one time Adrien told me I poured flour on him when he did, in fact, pour it on himself.”

Adrien muttered something unintelligible. Nino, who wasn’t apparently very good in front of a camera, just stood there smiling.

“So…” Marinette continued, “with the help of our good friend Nino, we’ve found the perfect thing to pour on his head as revenge.” She looked to Nino, who lifted up a bottle and two pairs of elastic gloves.

“Semi-permanent pink hair dye!” Marinette announced with a clap of her hands.

Adrien’s jaw dropped. This was _not _a good idea. Photoshoots… school… his father…

“Now, we realize that Adrien is a serious model and so therefore needs his blonde hair, so this stuff comes out in five or so washes – so if he desperately needs his hair back for a photoshoot in two days or something, it can be done. We’re not evil.”

Adrien laughed deprecatingly. “Oh, I beg to differ.”

Marinette raised a sassy eyebrow at the back of his head. “Well then, we’d better get started!” She took a pair of rubber gloves and the bottle off of Nino, and both donned the clear gloves.

“Man, I feel like a surgeon or something,” Nino said, shaking his hands about.

“Me too, sort of. It’s weird. I can feel stuff, but not… feel it.”

“I totally get you, dude!” The two laughed.

“Okay,” Marinette paused, reading the back of the bottle. “It says to do a strand test, but who can be bothered. We should probably put Vaseline on his hair line, though. Staining there wouldn’t come out.”

Nino nodded, getting to work. As Marinette read, she subconsciously began running her hand through Adrien’s hair. “Nino, have you ever dyed someone’s hair before?” She asked.

“No. You?”

“I read a WikiHow page about it?” She offered. “Oh well. If we get yelled at in the comments, he’s the one who has to read it.”

“You two are not making me feel any better,” Adrien grumbled. “And I will have to read it.”

“Oh!” Marinette said. “Do your viewers know you read all their comments?”

Without waiting for a reply, she continued, “Isn’t that so cute, guys? Adrien’s committed.”

“Sounds like boyfriend material,” Alya muttered from behind the camera.

Marinette blinked. “Did you say something?”

“No.”

“Oh,” Marinette turned back to the bottle. “Okay.”

Putting colour on his hair was a surprisingly taxing job (and his hair was short – imagine dyeing Chloe’s hair or something.) They put it on as evenly as possible, did a weird thing where they kind of rubbed his head, and put him in a shower cap for a half hour (it was questionable whether the shower cap was for bleached hair or just dyed hair in general – nobody knew.) But at the end of the half hour, all four had crammed into his bathroom to try and wash off, and get a good shot of washing off, his hair.

“Please don’t get it on my face, I don’t want a pink face,” Adrien told Nino who was trying to wrestle the shower cap off of his head. He was leant over the bathtub in, quite frankly, a very uncomfortable position – and Marinette was trying to get his shower warm, and Alya was holding the camera.

“This is a very worrying situation for me. Everything that could go wrong would literally only affect me. What if my camera drops? What if my camera gets wet? What if dye stains my bathtub? Or my face? Or my hair? Or my towels?”

“Oh, stop fussing, we’ll buy you other towels,” Marinette said.

“That doesn’t help the rest of my problems!”

Without answering, Marinette declared that the water was warm enough, and at literally the same time, Nino got the shower cap off. “Okay,” Marinette said. “I’m not going to get it in your eyes, but you should probably close them just in case.”

Before he could object, lukewarm water was going across his scalp, down his back, down his forehead, in his ears. “Mari!” He tried to object whilst keeping his mouth shut. He was making probably the world’s most unattractive raisin face right now.

“I’m doing my best!” She responded, running one hand through his hair to try and get the dye out. “Do we… do we shampoo your hair?”

Nino left to get the instructions. Somehow, Adrien felt worse about his situation.

“You’re doing great, Adrien,” Marinette assured as she began to rub out the dye next to one of his ears. “We’re, like, halfway there.”

Even though he very much currently hated the situation he was in – his back was _killing _him – he couldn’t deny that warm water and Marinette’s hands felt pretty good in his hair.

“No shampoo,” Nino said as he came back in. “Just wash until the water goes clear.”

“Did the dye work?” Adrien manages to get out without water pouring into his mouth. Somehow, it’s getting dangerously close to his _nose._

“Well, your hair is really dark because it’s wet, but it looks like it worked!” Alya called enthusiastically. “And you make a good pinkette.”

“Is that a word?”

“Shut up, Mari, your hair’s, like, blue.”

“No it isn’t! It’s black, and it just hits the light funny in person.”

“Yeah, yeah, can we get back to washing the dye off of me?” Adrien asked. Marinette apologised hastily, getting back to rubbing out as much of the dye as she could.

“Okay,” she announced a minute or so later. “All done. Now we blow dry it. Can someone else do that, though? I’ve already done enough damage.”

Alya laughed, and swapped with Nino, who had kind of just been standing whilst holding the hair dye bottle and watching. “I’m on it, girl. Alya Césaire, hairdresser extraordinaire.”

Adrien whipped his head back, spewing water droplets everywhere – mostly on Marinette, who shrieked. “I thought that was ‘Ladyblogger extraordinaire.’”

“Yeah, well after twelve years of my youth dedicated to colouring barbie doll’s hair in the hopes I’d become a hairdresser before realizing my true dream was journalism, I’d say I can be both.”

Adrien nodded, and removed the towel from his shoulders to rub at his hair softly. “If any of this falls out, I swear to god…” he said threateningly. “Now let me see a mirror.”

The three moved accordingly, granting him a clear path to his bathroom mirror. Slowly, he removed the towel off of his head.

“Oh my god,” Adrien said slowly. “I look like a drowned rat.”

“No you don’t!” Marinette scolded. “Rats aren’t pink.”

A startled laugh came out of his throat. “Because that’s so comforting! Holy… mother of mary. This better not be bad.”

“Why aren’t you swearing?” Alya asked, moving to plug in his hairdryer.

“I have, like, ten-year-old fans. Gotta set a good impression.”

“Okay…” Alya said. “Well, sit back and relax. I can fix this.”

Adrien let out a long sigh. He would literally be in _so _much trouble if his father saw him right now. Sure, he was out of town for business – but Nathalie was still here, and she would most definitely report back that his hair was pink – and he’d probably have a heart attack.

He made eye contact with Marinette in the mirror, and she gave him an overly positive grin with two thumbs up.

He gave her the stink eye. It was easy to be happy – especially when your head wasn’t the one being ruined by a horrible dye-job.

Unless…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it appears that sexuality is beginning to become a common topic amogst my stories
> 
> Anyway, make sure to leave kudos and comments!!!! When I tell you i love reading comments, I mean it!!! Also have a great day!!!! Positivity!!!!!


	4. the aftermath of, well, just about everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya sparks an idea. Adrien has a chat with his Father, then with Ladybug, then with Marinette. All's well that ends well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have very recently come to the conclusion that i cannot write angst well so with that in mind you now know that this story will be a fluff-ball right up until the end :) (a loud 'yaaaaaay' from the audience)

“We are _not _bleaching my hair,” Marinette protested. The four were in the cafeteria for lunch, and Alya, who had been unsurprisingly enthusiastic about Adrien’s plan – had brought it up no less than ten minutes ago.

“Why not? You’d match me! Just the ends?”

Marinette raised an eyebrow. Adrien subconsciously reached a hand up to touch his back-to-blonde, which had come out after three washes the night before and two the morning after – leaving a slight pinkish hue for a day that he played off as the light hitting it strangely. But she didn’t have parents that would protest against a bright colour, and she did love pink; why was she so against the idea.

“Okay, fine. But I think a red streak would be super cool.”

“A red streak? Alya, I never wear red for a reason! I don’t look good in it.”

“Oh, bullshit.” Alya fixed Marinette with a look. “You’re just scared. Well, other than Nino, both Adrien and I have taken the plunge, and personally, I have never looked back. My hair is fabulous. It’s your turn.”

“I… I just don’t like the idea! What if it looks weird?” She fidgeted with the cutlery in her hands, and Adrien watched from besides her as she scooped up the smallest amount of mashed potatoes, bringing them halfway to her pips, before setting it back down again.

“Your hair is black. We could dye it back, if you hate it that much. Or we could wash it out.”

“What if… what if bleach gets on the other pieces of hair, and my head is all splotchy or something?”

Alya shook her head. “Won’t happen. Trust me, girl! I was probably, like, a hairdresser in my past life.”

“Well…” Marinette went back to toying with her food. Alya’s eyes lit up.

“Is that a yes?”

“It’s a maybe.” Marinette finally ate something, as if she were using it as an excuse not to talk to her friend. But Alya was satisfied; she continued eating, and struck up a separate conversation with Nino about a gig that he was playing Saturday night. Adrien turned to Mari, watching for a second as she continued eating.

“You don’t have to dye your hair, you know.” He said softly. She stopped eating, but her eyes didn’t move from her plate.

“I know,” she said with a declarative nod.

“But,” he continued, “I think you’d look really cute with a red strand in your hair.”

He couldn’t see her face – she had turned away – but from the quickly-reddening hue of the tips of her ears, he knew she had heard him.

* * *

“Hi everyone! Adrien Agreste here,” Adrien waved to the camera in front of his bed. “Today, once again, I am here with my biggest fan.”

“Oh, shut up,” Marinette grumbled from besides him. “I’m having a hard enough time as it is, considering what we’re doing.”

“Well, as you guys have probably already read, Marinette and I will be reading fanfiction about ourselves, and whoever can’t do it anymore has to face a forfeit!”

“Just to be clear, we’re not reading fanfiction about just us two, it’ll be about Adrien and whoever the author pairs him with, and so on, and so forth.”

“What, do you not like the idea of us being together?” Adrien pouted. “My fans will be so disappointed.”

“You wish, pretty boy.” Marinette’s lips curled upwards in a way that did something to his insides. Huh. He’d never seen her do that before. “Anyway, we’re going to flip a coin to decide who reads first. I have three fics lined up for Adrien, and he has three for me.”

She turned to him, and the new expression was replaced with a familiar one of warmth that made his stomach feel even more fuzzy. “Heads or tails?”

He shook his head. “Sorry, what?”

Marinette laughed softly. “Heads or tails?”

“Oh.” He said, and then, after a moment, “tails.”

She nodded and flipped the coin, placing it on the back of her hand. “Ouch. For you, I mean. It’s heads – and I have an Adrien Agreste and Chat Noir fanfiction for you.”

His brain short circuited just about there. Him, and… him? But…

“What? Are you forfeiting already?” She asked. “You have to be Adrien and Chat Noir, though. I think that one’s a texting one. Should be easy enough.”

Adrien nodded slightly nervously, opening up the first link on his phone. “Okay, here goes nothing, I guess…”

* * *

_Marinette reading a Marinette x reader was the weirdest but she made it werk_

_ADRINOIR FOR LIFE_

_Kjdfhrejkdj where is my fic on this list_

_Do they pick fics by hand or can we submit??? Also can we have a part 2??_

_SHIP SHIP SHIP SHIP SHIP_

_Does anyone else notice that Adrien literally looks like a lovesick puppy next to her_

_WHAT’S MARINETTE’S FORFEIT YOU CAN’T MAKE ME WAIT THIS LONG_

_Personally I just came for the banter, left with a full harvest of wholesomeness_

_Even if they don’t get together they are the darn cutest best bros ever_

_I can’t believe he did her dirty in the editing like that _

_“Chat Noir sidled up to Adrien” is the single cringiest thing to ever have left that boy’s mouth and he knows it_

_Can we have a Chat x Adrien x Marinette please yes that would be cute thank you_

* * *

The reactions on his newest video were… overwhelming, in a word. From the four million subscribers he’d originally gained from twitter and Instagram, his social network had only expanded, and now he was on 6.3 million and growing.

And his most popular video to date was his fanfiction-reading one.

He’d already posted a photo Alya had taken of him (it turned out that after a year of photographing Marinette’s designs, the girl was pretty good at camera angles) and thanked all his fans in the caption for the support, especially when his Youtube channel was only just turning two months old. But the comments section, as always, was (although full of support, which made him feel the same way Marinette did) overflowing with things about how they should just get together.

After a quick check, he’d found out that on Marinette’s posts, his especially persistent fans had also been harassing her to either get with Adrien, or get out of his life (which was weird and, quite honestly, rude.) But now people were talking about it on the Ladyblog, and on Nino’s personal page – it was even coming up with his father.

“Adrien?” Said man asked one night when they were having dinner together. For the past ten minutes, it had been silent, save for the scraping of cutlery on plates. Adrien was used to this – now he could go an entire meal without looking up hopefully, as if he would catch his father’s gaze.

It wouldn’t happen. Looking up just reminded him of their estrangement.

“Yes, father?” He asked, clearing his throat and pausing his actions.

“Your YouTube channel is doing well, is it not?”

Adrien looked up. “Well, yes it is, actually.”

Gabriel nodded, not meeting his gaze. “And what do you put on your YouTube channel?”

“Videos of me. And my friends. I recorded a photoshoot, once.”

“You would do well to be very careful with what you post online,” his father commented. “Right now most media attention is positive, but one wrong move and you shame both yourself and the entire Gabriel Agreste brand, do you understand?”

Oh. That was his concern. “Yes, father.”

“I understand you made a video about sexuality.” He said after a moment.

Adrien’s heart, for lack of better words, dropped. Straight down, out of his body. His throat constricted, slightly.

“Yes?” He choked out, bowing his head and beginning to fidget with his food. His eyes went misty. He couldn’t cry, not now. His father… how much worse could their relationship get?

“Some of my business partners disagree with the messages that you put across. Now, I believe it would be pointless to take it down, as the message is already out there, but you would do well to steer clear of topics like that in the future. Do I make myself clear?”

Adrien closed his eyes as he felt droplets of water on his eyelashes. “Yes, father,” he said as if it didn’t affect him – but the single tear onto his plate said differently. “Um, is there anything else?”

From the corner of his eye, he watched as his father wiped his mouth and stood. “No, that is all. Good night, Adrien.”

“Good night, father,” Adrien mumbled as he watched Gabriel exit, followed by Nathalie. The door shut behind them, and once again, he was surrounded by silence.

He wiped a hasty hand over his eyes. It was Wednesday night. He had two hours, and then he could escape. Patrol. See his Lady.

His father’s lack of emotion, as always, stuck in his head. Had he always been that callous? Or had Adrien made him that way?

* * *

“Good evening,” Ladybug greeted as Chat Noir landed on the Eiffel Tower. “How are you?”

“Glad to see you,” Adrien answered honestly. “And tired.”

“You’re telling me, you silly flirt,” she laughed. “But I’m happy to see you. I need this break. Patrolling. I don’t think I’ve gotten up from a desk for more than ten minutes since eight this morning.”

He winced; he knew the feeling. “Oh well, it’s the purr-fect night to spend with me, My Lady. Shall we set off?”

She nodded, and extended her yoyo. “Race you!”

Twenty minutes later, and they were lounging around, walking from rooftop to rooftop. “Hey,” she said, pointing. “That’s Adrien Agreste’s house, right? Did you ever go and visit?”

He shook his head. “My Lady, I think there was a misunderstanding. I don’t like Adrien… like that. I don’t even know him that well!”

“But he seems to like you. I’ve been watching his videos, now that you pointed them out.”

Ladybug watches his videos. Holy shit.

“Chat? If you don’t like Adrien Agreste, then what is it?”

“Adrien… doesn’t like me. And I just like his videos.”

Ladybug shot him a disbelieving look, jumping across a rooftop. He followed, crouching to soften the landing before standing to his full height. It was in those kinds of moments that the dork in him came out, and – dare he say it – he felt like a _real _superhero. From some comic book or something.

“Well then do you like someone else in his videos? He has friends, right? Alya? The ladyblogger.”

His nose scrunched up, sort of involuntarily. “She’s… dating someone, isn’t she?”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t have feelings for her.”

He shook his head. “Not really my type.”

“Okay, then how about Nino? Is… is that his name?”

“Yeah,” Chat Noir shook his head. “Not him, either.”

“Then…” Ladybug turned from her position a couple of steps in front of him, face white. “Do you like Marinette?”

“Do I- Marinette?” Chat fumbled over his words. At the thought of Marinette, his stomach did that _thing _like it was nervous but not really. “But- I- We-“

“Holy shit,” Ladybug turned back around. “You like Marinette.”

“I mean, I like her designs,” Chat jumped in. “Everyone likes her designs! The girl’s got talent.”

“You also like her face, and her personality. You have feelings for Marinette, right?”

“Why are you so insistent on figuring out who I have feelings for?”

She shrugged, continuing to walk. “Just curious.”

“Yeah, well, if you’re too curious, you’ll find out my identity.”

Ladybug shook her head. “I’m not looking to find out your identity. I’m looking to get you laid.”

“What, with Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

At that, Ladybug’s face lit up like a fire hydrant – but she managed to ignore it, turning to point an accusatory finger at him. “Ha! You know her full name!”

“Because that’s what she goes by.”

Ladybug was about to retort, but sounds of a scuffle below them had the two making suddenly serious eye contact before descending into an alleyway below.

“Give me back my bag!” A woman in her early thirties, seemingly, yelled, wrestling with a much larger man. He had a black hat on, and from Chat’s angle, he couldn’t see the guy’s face – but he was betting it was covered with something.

“Just let go, you bitch!” The guy yelled, lifting his arm as if to punch her. Ladybug was there almost instantly, holding his fist back.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she said, tutting softly.

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you it’s rude to hit people?”

He turned to Ladybug, and then to Chat Noir – who was blocking the alley’s only exit – and then back to the woman. “Fuck,” he cursed under his breath.

“Are you going to give the lady her purse back, or do you want police officers as well as us?” Ladybug asked him. He attempted to yank his fist back, but to no avail – Ladybug’s grip remained strong.

“Let go. You’re so small I could probably crush you.” He threatened.

“Oh, but I don’t think I’d like that,” Adrien closed in, and found his voice slowly getting more malicious, as it tended to whilst around douchebags like that. “Let go of the purse.”

At that moment, the woman he’d been fighting against managed to yank her bag out of his hand, and had the sense to scurry away, cowering behind Adrien. He turned, offering her a small smile of assurance. “Call the police for me, doll-face?”

There was a thud behind him, and his head whipped back to see Ladybug had delivered a kick to the back of his knee, and was now holding his hands as if they were in cuffs. “Now,” she blew a single strand of hair off of her face, turning to Chat with an evil grin. “Where were we?”

* * *

All of this was Ladybug’s fault, he told himself as he stood, still transformed from the patrol that had ended about a half hour ago. He was watching Marinette’s balcony – or, rather, through the still lit up window as she tried not to doze off whilst sewing something.

This was probably why she was late to school. She didn’t get enough sleep. Reckless girl.

But she looked like she was on the cusp of it, and he didn’t want to…. Bother her. He’d been here before; yes. She’d said he could drop in anytime; yes. But not at quarter to midnight when both of their alarms were going to go off at six thirty the next morning.

He could just… watch over her, for a little while. Carry her to bed, maybe.

He extended his baton with experienced precision, and vaulted himself onto her balcony. She was, as Ladybug had put it, the perfect person for superheroes to befriend. She always had food, she was practically nocturnal, she had an easily-accessible balcony…

Marinette’s head drooped again, and he watched fondly. At this point, she’d stopped sewing – and instead was blinking and trying to focus, adjusting the piece of cloth, before falling into the same spiral of her head dropping to her chest.

Adorable, if he said so himself.

He reached for her skylight when she didn’t lift her head back up, deciding he could just… write her a note, or something. He could be the knight to the princess. It would be sweet.

Except he’d never had to actually open the skylight _himself _before, and some part of him just kind of expected it to stay up, like a trapdoor of some sort – which, in hindsight, was kind of stupid – instead of slamming into the side of the roof and leaving Marinette to wake up with a jump and a murmur of something she had probably just been dreaming about.

Well, whoops. Guess his cover was blown.

“Who’s there?” She asked, standing and fighting a yawn in the cutest way. She had no weapons – what did she think she was doing?

“It’s just me.” Adrien admitted, poking his head through the skylight. “Good evening, Princess.”

She let out an exhale of relief. “Chat Noir? What are you doing here?”

“I just… wanted to see you, I guess.” He said softly. “Mind if I come in?”

She shook her head, like she always did, and he dropped in, moving over to her chaise and draping himself across it. It was probably his favourite place in her entire room, to be honest – it was just so comfortable.

“So what is it, Chat?” She moved her desk chair, so it was facing him, and took a seat, yawning again.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Well, you either come because you’re hungry, or because you want to talk something through. Which is it?”

“Well, I could really go for some food,” he chuckled, rubbing his stomach. “But I don’t come here just for those two things.”

Marinette paused. “You’re right. You also come to watch movies, sometimes. But it’s a bit late to watch a movie, Chat. So what is it?”

He sighed. “Am I that transparent?”

“Not transparent. I just know you by now.” She offered him a warm smile; the same one she gave to Adrien – to all her friends. “Besides, transparency isn’t a bad thing.”

“It’s… my father.”

Marinette scrunched her nose up. Most of the things Chat usually wanted to ‘talk about’ involved his dirt bag father – and although he was pretty good at keeping his identity a secret, he let just enough out that she had formed a very strong opinion that she hated him with every inch of her soul.

Which was kind of ironic, because Gabriel Agreste was kind of her idol. But, not the point.

“Long story short, he found out that I’m bi, and said nothing except that I shouldn’t tell anyone, because it would reflect badly on him.”

“Piece of shit,” Marinette mumbled under her breath. Chat snorted.

“What?” She asked, chuckling too. “You know it’s true.”

“Yeah, I just…” Chat sighed. What was he trying to say? “I know our relationship has nowhere to go but up, literally, and yet I can’t help feeling hurt every time he doesn’t acknowledge I’m a human being with human thoughts.”

“I’m really sorry you get treated like that, Chat. You’re always welcome here – you know that, right?”

He nodded. He did know that.

“And whenever you come over, I am obligated to make you hot chocolate – with mini-marshmallows – if you want it. Do you want some now?”

“I don’t want to be a bother…” his protest was light, and by the end of it both him and Marinette were grinning at each other.

“Hot chocolate it is. I need some, anyway – it makes me sleepy. Are you coming?”

They snuck down her ladder (with her normal opening trapdoor) and into her kitchen, brewing the kettle and putting far too much chocolate powder and a teaspoon of Nutella into both of their mugs, before finishing with whipped cream and mini-marshmallows – all in silence. Every time they made eye contact, one of them burst out into silent laughter, and so the trip back up was filled with sleep-deprived, almost drunken shushing from one to the other in amidst silent giggles until they were once again in the safety of Marinette’s bedroom.

Chat ate two marshmallows off of the top. “You know you make the best hot chocolate ever?” He asked, licking some of the whipped cream.

“What are you doing, you heathen? You have to put your marshmallows in the chocolate – get them melted.”

She was doing just that – pausing every now and again to take a fingerful of whipped cream off the top. He mimicked.

“And to answer your question; yes. I take immense pride in my hot chocolate.”

“Better put it on your university applications.”

She groaned. “Ugh. Don’t remind me. I’m supposed to be building a portfolio for that, but on top of school work it is taking the life out of me. Before you came, I was working on a dress I designed years ago but never had the time to make. I don’t really have the time now, either – but here we are.”

He nodded, trying one of the newly melted marshmallows. Huh. It was pretty good.

“And even if I do get all of these pieces done, I need good photos of them on people. And I have, like, two friends willing to do modelling – and neither of them have any free time, either. I don’t want to bother them.”

He’d gotten through his whipped cream by this point, and was now taking large gulps of hot chocolate, probably leaving himself a moustache. “You aren’t a bother,” he told her honestly. “You’re great. Your friends, even the ones who haven’t modelled before, would probably love to spend an afternoon getting dressed up and taking photos. And if that all goes to shit, you could wear your designs.”

He took another large gulp of his hot chocolate, and, once acknowledging he hadn’t heard a reply, turned to see Marinette passed out over her desk, hand half-attached to her still full hot chocolate mug. He shook his head fondly.

It seemed he did get to carry out the knight thing after all.

He lay her in bed gently, covering her with a blanket and brushing her hair away from her face. Then, he left her a note.

_‘Had to go home, Princess. Had your hot chocolate – it would’ve gone cold. Was delicious. See you soon ; )’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Penny for your thoughts? Is Adrien becoming self aware? Is Ladybug a natural matchmaker? Would Marinette look good with any colour of hair? (i can answer that one, though - yes 100%)


	5. so close, and yet still so very far away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot happens. Adrien has a creative block - Marinette can help. Marichat meetup. Adrien and Nino are the Brotp. Once again, Adrien Agreste is confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hot damn this took a while, but here it is!! hope y'all enjoy

Adrien had creative block. That was the way people put it, right? Well, he’d been posting enough on Instagram, and had put up several notices on his Youtube account that a video _was _coming… but, for the life of him, nothing seemed to come to mind.

A video idea. It was simple. He could do it. A fencing vlog, or a Q and A with Alya, or something. But the first few videos he’d tried to film by himself had all turned out horribly, and he didn’t want to rope a friend into wasting several hours when he wouldn’t even post the video at the end of the day.

He felt like shit, to put it briefly. He was under a lot of pressure. He was worried – about school, and letting his fans down, and his _father._

Maybe that was it. Maybe, after the talk they’d had, he was worried about embarrassing his father.

Adrien had never felt inherently embarrassed of his account before – every video he posted was because he liked it, and he was proud of it. The miniscule amount of hate he received was always very quickly shut down by his uber-supportive fans, who were so fiercely loyal it hurt a little bit to know he was letting them down.

At the beginning of this, he had promised a video every two weeks or so – but he was about three days from breaking that promise, and nowhere closer to being able to prevent it.

So, with a heavy heart, he did the only thing he could think of that would affect the least amount of people possible; he asked for help.

**AA: Hey, are you free today?**

**MDC: Not for a couple hours but I can spare the entire afternoon! Why?**

**AA: I need help with a video**

**MDC: Yeah, sure : ). Should be fun! See you at 12 ish?**

**AA: Cool.**

Adrien was not really the type to ask for help – he’d always been told that doing it was showing weakness. But as Chat, she’d said to him to rely on her, and that she could always help, and it wouldn’t be _so _bad to spend some extra time with her – even if no video came from it.

He liked spending time with her. He just felt kind of guilty wasting _her _time.

An hour later, five minutes before twelve, Nathalie knocked on his bedroom door, followed by a widely-smiling Marinette, with a bakery box in her hand. She waved enthusiastically as Nathalie shut the door behind her, and Adrien waved back.

Unsurprisingly, Marinette caught on immediately – her smile dimmed, slightly. “What’s up?”

“I need help with a video,” he said, patting the place on his sofa next to her. She took a tentative seat, eyes not moving from him.

“Yeah, any time,” she reassured gently. “What can I do?”

Adrien shook his head. “I don’t know. I have no ideas for a video, and you’re like the most creative person I know, so I figured you might be able to help, but I also don’t want to put that much pressure on you, also I don’t want to waste your time, so-“

“Stop.” She commanded. “I am very happy to help. There is no pressure. You are not a burden, and I like spending time with you – video or not. Okay?”

He nodded, sheepishly.

“Now,” Marinette continued. “I brought some stuff from the bakery. You have no video ideas?”

“Well, I do have a few – but I need a video I can make quickly to post, like, tomorrow. So no vlogs or anything.”

She nodded. “Have you looked through what your fans want you to do? Usually they have pretty good ideas, and they’re more receptive to watching stuff that they recommend.”

“I tried that,” he said. “But some of the comments were ‘why hasn’t he uploaded in forever’ and those kind of make me feel even worse, so I stopped trying.”

“Then… why don’t we play Ultimate Mecha Strike until we think of an idea? There’s no pressure in that. We could even record it, if you want. Didn’t you want to put up a video of us playing at one point?”

That… that wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Okay,” Adrien said. “Let’s do that. No intro or anything, though. I’m not really up for that yet.”

“No problem,” her smile was back full force. “Prepare to get schooled, Adrien.”

“Joke’s on you, because I love school. Take that.”

They both paused. “Oh, god.” Marinette said. “No. That did not land in the intended way.”

“I tried my best,” he groaned. “Let’s just play the damn game.”

* * *

“Take that!” Marinette laughed as she killed off his character for the fifth time in a row. “Damn, victory feels good.”

Adrien pouted from besides her. “You know, you could literally be a professional gamer. It’s not my fault I always lose.”

“On top of everything else I do? No, thanks. I don’t know how you manage to maintain your channel. You lead a busy life, Agreste.”

He shrugged as the game went back to its title screen. “It is hard, I guess. Like the block I’ve been having. There isn’t really endless ideas for videos, and I’m already an above-averagely occupied teenager.”

“I get that,” Marinette said as they moved to pick their characters. “You know the videos I sometimes post on Instagram? I love making them, and people apparently love watching them, but I get one out per month, or something ridiculously long like that, because they just take too much time to make. I have to film them all in one sitting, so I need like an entire day free just to film, and then however long to edit and all that jazz.”

The battle started, and Adrien focussed in. “If only we had more free time.”

She nodded. “Ha! I’m winning again!”

“We’ve been playing for like, thirty seconds!”

She stuck her tongue out at him, and he caught it in his peripheral vision. “Hey!” He laughed. “Don’t be mean.”

“Oh, so sticking my tongue out at you is mean?”

“Distracting me is mean.”

“Oh, and how is my tongue distracting you?”

She landed another hit, knocking his health bar down yet again. His curse was lost under Marinette’s triumphant whoop.

“Mari?” He asked, stopping for a second. She continued playing for a moment, before realizing he wasn’t defending. She turned to look at him, eyebrows drawn together.

“What is it?” She asked so sincerely that he almost felt bad for what he was about to do.

He grabbed her controller, throwing it aimlessly behind him, and continued to play, landing hit after hit on her character. “Nothing,” he claimed innocently.

“Hey!” She laughed, looking after her controller and then at his. She lunged, trying to get his controller, but he stood up, holding it out of her reach.

“It’s not my fault you’re short!” He laughed as she jumped by his side for the controller. He was still landing attacks on her character, slowly depleting her hp bar, but the laughter made his movements slow.

She stood up on the sofa and snatched the control from him, throwing it to the other side of the room. Both teens dashed in opposite directions for their remotes, desperate to get them first. Adrien got back to the sofa faster, continuing to play with an intense focus.

Marinette was several seconds behind, but she landed a combo of hits that would’ve won if she wasn’t one hit away from losing – which she was. As the ‘game over’ title hit the screen, Adrien jumped victoriously in the air, laughing loudly.

“Show-off,” Muttered Marinette.

“Oh, so when I do it, I’m a show-off, but you can go ‘in your face!’ whenever you win?”

Marinette pouted, and Adrien collapsed back on the sofa. “I think running for the console was the most exercise I’ve done all day.” He said with a slightly breathless laugh.

“I don’t know; that victory dance looked pretty winding,” she laughed. He frowned, and poked her in the side. “Hey!” she shrieked. “I’m ticklish. Leave me alone, or you don’t get anything from the bakery.”

Both of their eyes drifted to the once-full box Marinette had brought, that now only contained crumbs. “Or not,” she sighed. “Oh well. I’m not hungry any more anyway.”

Adrien checked the console for any scuff marks, before looking up and seeing the camera. “Oh, we should probably end the video here, right? This was a good half hour of content.”

She nodded, and scooted closer to him. “Do your outro, then.”

Adrien cleared his throat comedically, and smiled when it made Marinette giggle softly. “That’s it for today everyone! Thank you for watching the video! Make sure to like and subscribe, if you haven’t already – and Marinette’s awesome social media handles will be surrounding her face right about now.” He turned to see Marinette doing a kind of box dance around her head, a sincere smile on her face. “Umm… yeah! Bye!” He waved at the camera, and so did she, until he reached it and turned it off.

“Now what?” He asked.

“Do you feel better?”

He nodded. He hadn’t really noticed the transition, but the pressure was practically non-existent now. Damn. Marinette and her voodoo presence worked wonders.

“Then we could film an intro, or we could get onto editing. This will be two videos to edit, and I love editing, so I’d be happy to stay.”

He nodded. “Okay. I would love your help. And we can do both of those things, right?”

“Of course,” she said.

“Marinette?” He asked after a second of comfortable silence. “Thank you. For helping me with… all this.”

“Anytime, buddy.” She punched his arm softly. “Now let’s get to work!”

* * *

Marinette was watching his video. He knew this because, several hours after she’d left, the slightly longer than normal video had gone live, and without waiting around for comments to start streaming in, he’d transformed with the intent of letting off some pent-up energy, but had ended up at her balcony window.

She was halfway through the video, and was watching it sped up, but laughing genuinely every couple of seconds. He… he couldn’t interrupt her like that. Besides, he’d already had his fill of pastries from the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

He half expected Ladybug to sneak up on him, tease him about being creepy. She’d guessed he had a crush on Marinette – which he _didn’t – _so of course it would be pretty incriminating if he was caught watching her, like a creep, from a rooftop across one house.

But he’d messaged her a few minutes ago or so, asking if she was out for any reason, or if she wanted to meet – and she hadn’t replied. If she were in the suit, she would’ve replied.

He knocked on her skylight, and she paused the video, looking up. “Chat Noir?”

“Good afternoon, Princess. Mind if I drop in?”

She shook her head, and he pulled the skylight open, slipping into her room. “Any reason why you’re here?” She asked with a small smile. “Not that you need a reason, of course.”

“I was just patrolling, and I saw you. That’s Adrien Agreste’s channel, right?”

She nodded. “You watch his videos?”

“I do,” he said, moving to sit beside her, the irony of the situation not lost on him. “I haven’t seen this one yet, though.”

“It’s new,” she supplied. “I’m only about five minutes in; would you like to watch it with me?”

He nodded, and she moved so that he could join her in leaning against the wall, and they could hold the phone together. He had to beware of his claws, but his hands were just so much… bigger than hers. He’d never noticed that before.

Ten minutes in, and he wasn’t really paying much attention to the video, but Marinette’s voice woke him from his daydream of something or other. “Chat?”

“Yes, Princess?”

“Are you cold? You’re shivering.”

Oh. He hadn’t even realized.

“Keep watching – I know what happens in the video. I’ll grab a blanket.”

Before he could protest, she had gotten out of bed and was already climbing down to the main section of her room. He blinked, and she was already coming back up, albeit slowly, hindered by the ridiculously fluffy blanket in her arms.

“Here,” she said proudly, presenting the (unsurprisingly pink) thing to him. “It’s my favourite.”

It was huge. He draped it around his shoulders and there was still room for about four more people underneath it. But as Marinette adjusted herself next to him, holding the other side of the phone again, he outstretched the blanket, wrapping it around her and pulling her into his side.

“There,” he said. “Much more comfortable.”

“You silly flirt,” she mumbled – the video now just background noise. He tilted his head slightly to see that the tip of her nose was flushed, and she was still focussing on the phone screen.

“So what if I am?”

She grumbled something under her breath, and Adrien found himself smiling. Something about him just really liked being around her, he supposed – in or out of the suit.

The video ended abruptly, and the two teens were surrounded in silence. “What now?” He asked.

“Now, we watch some more videos, or a movie, or anything you want. It’s a bit early for hot chocolate, and I can’t make two mugs without my parents questioning me. So what do you want to do?”

Chat wanted to shrug, but Mari’s head resting on his shoulder made him extra aware of everything he was doing – in a weird way, he wanted to be comfortable. He didn’t want her to move. She’d bestowed responsibility of keeping her head safe to him, and he had to do a good job. “I just want to spend time with you.”

“Smooth talker, too,” she chuckled. “Alright. How about we check Netflix? On my laptop, though, because if we find a movie, it may be a bit much to hold my phone the entire time.”

He nodded. “Sounds good.”

* * *

_This is everything I signed up for and I am so in love_

_CAN YOU GET TOGETHER PLEASE_

_Damn what is marinette not good at_

_MARI that NICKNAME is so CUTE I want to DIE_

_Dfjhgnfdksdifjn,,, you get me_

_I just,,, cannot believe,,,,,,,,,,, they aren’t dating,,, yet_

_I’m fine this is fine everything is fine_

_Aww don’t feel pressure we don’t need daily videos!! We love u and will still love u even if u don’t post for like a month!!_

_He is so sweet and worried and he is a mischievous boi likeee_

_FIRST LIKE Y’ALL but also I don’t understand why Adrien is so stressed about stuff doesn’t he know we wuv him uwu_

_YES UWU THIS VIDEO HAS STOLEN ALL MY UWUS THAT RIGHT THERE WAS MY LAST ONE_

_I can die happy now_

* * *

Adrien and Nino were alone for lunch that day. Alya was out with Marinette, having lunch with her parents and working on something that had remained a secret to both guys (although Adrien had a sneaking suspicion that Nino knew exactly what they were doing – the guy was surprisingly perceptive – and hadn’t let anyone else know just yet.) So they were eating the school’s mac and cheese (Plagg’s unsurprisingly favourite human dish) and browsing on their phones. He was reading the comments on his latest video (which was now more than ever his main pass-time – there were always more comments) and one topic just kept on coming up.

“Nino?” He asked, making eye contact with the boy in front of him as he took off his headphones. “Can I ask you a couple of questions and, like, record it?”

Nino grinned. “Sure dude. I love being a prominent character for your fans.

Adrien shook his head softly, pulling out his camera. “Okay… hi everyone! Today I’m with Nino, who’s the guy behind all the incredible music I play in the videos. I just wanted to ask him a couple of questions, because Nino is like, the wisest guy I know, so that’s what this is!”

Nino nodded. “I am here to help.” He gave the camera a big thumbs up.

“Okay,” Adrien fiddled with his phone for a second. “About ten minutes ago, I put a thing on my Instagram story asking for questions, so we’re just going to answer those. The first one… what Hogwarts house are you in?”

“I am a Gryffindor,” Nino said proudly. “Just like my main dude Harry Potter.”

“I don’t know,” said Adrien. “I read the books – but I never thought about it before.”

Nino looked him up and down. “Oh, you are 100 percent a Hufflepuff. No competition.”

“But aren’t Hufflepuff’s kind of irrelevant?”

Nino gasped. “How dare you. Hufflepuff is, like, my backup house. Hufflepuff is full of great people.”

Adrien nodded. “Whatever you say… second question. How did you find the confidence to put yourself out there?” He paused for a moment. “You mean with my YouTube account? I had the kind of unfair advantage of already being famous, but I guess having a YouTube account and a new personality was kind of nerve wracking at first. I’d say dive in headfirst, though. Whatever goes wrong can’t be too drastic.”

“Yeah, I agree,” said Nino. “For me, I was always terrified of sharing my own music – until one day I realized that if I was scared, I would get nowhere, and my passion outweighed my fear. Diving in headfirst is a good piece of advice, though.”

Adrien smiled. “Third question. What is one food you absolutely cannot eat?”

Nino pulled a face. “Salt and vinegar crisps. They burn, dude.”

“They don’t burn! They’re so good!”

“Have you had salt and vinegar pringles? It feels like my tongue is burning. Also, says you, mister ‘I cannot take spice.’”

“I can take spice. Just not a lot.”

Nino rolled his eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Spice tastes good – salt and vinegar is just an assault on your taste buds. And your lips! It hurts.”

Adrien looked back at his phone. “Ok. The next one is just a, ‘how are you?’ I’m good, thank you for asking!”

Nino groaned. “There’s that peppy enthusiasm. If you haven’t noticed, Adrien doesn’t get tired or grumpy that much. He’s blessed with not having under-eye bags, either.”

“That’s because we’re eighteen! I’ll probably get them as I grow up.”

“As for me, I am hanging in there. Very tired, always hungry – and I can only fix one of those issues at any one time.”

“Okay, another one. ‘How do you know if you’re in love?’ Wow, deep one! Nino?”

Nino rested his chin on his palm. “I never really thought about how I knew with Alya, I just… knew. It’s like, you can be your complete self with them and never fear rejection. And you always want to be with them – even if you’re not doing anything, their presence just makes everything better.”

“But how do you know it’s love-love?”

“Love… kind of feels different for every person. You just become excited to see them. Love is something you have to work for, but you’d be willing to, and if you had to start over, you’d be willing to rebuild from there, too.” Nino smiled to himself. “I’m lucky. The first person I ever dated is Alya, and we’ve been going strong for 5 years now.”

“Cute,” Adrien smiled. “Part of me wishes I was in a relationship, but the other half of me knows I have no time.”

“If you ever feel the need to go on a date, there are literally millions of girls willing to volunteer as tribute.”

Adrien nodded. “I know,” he said, although his mind was drawn to two girls in particular. “Maybe I’ll get a date in the future. For now though, the next question! Favourite TV shows?”

* * *

Love. Love. Love.

It was a simple concept. Nino had explained it well.

He patrolled when he needed to _clear _his mind, damn it. But that one word wouldn’t leave his mind.

Love. When being around someone makes you happier. Love. Love.

He paced across the Eiffel Tower, feeling the urge to jump around to get all of his frustrations out. Well, not exactly frustrations. He just wanted to clear his head and focus on something other than hearts and chocolates and a girl with bluebell eyes-

Love. Everything was fine. He loved Ladybug. Why was he confused?

“Chat?” His Lady’s voice from behind startled him, and he jumped a half a foot in the air, tail jumping upright.

“Oh. Bugaboo? What are you doing out?”

“My kwami only just told me about your message. I figured you wouldn’t still be out – it’s been over a day. But… I wanted to check. What’s got you so spooked?”

He sighed heavily. “I’m just… thinking. About things.”

She took a seat, looking out to the quickly darkening sky on Paris’ horizon. He sat next to her. “Do you want to share?”

“I don’t think I’d be able to put it into words.”

She turned to him. “Try.”

“I… I’m just thinking. Civilian stuff. There’s this thing my friend said…”

“Do I need to beat your friend up?”

“No!” He said quickly. “No, it… it wasn’t a bad thing, per se. It just got me thinking.”

“About what?”

He sighed again. “About everything.”

“Oh,” she nodded as if she understood, and some part of Adrien told him that she probably did. “Well, I’m always here, partner.”

He turned to her – her glowing eyes in the light of the setting sun, her soft features, her probably even softer hair…

He loved Ladybug. He couldn’t love Marinette. You can’t love two girls at once. Besides, his affections for Ladybug felt different from the way he felt whilst around Marinette.

He liked being around Ladybug. It made his day. He would redo their entire relationship in a heartbeat, just to get to where they are now, if time was reversed. He wouldn’t give her up for anything.

Marinette was just a friend. Definitely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeet our boi is so close, yet so far away (haha get the chapter title now)
> 
> (also, because the 'video' was cut off before our bois could answer their favourite TV shows, Adrien loves Atypical and most anime and Nino is strangely obsessed with Supernatural (although he wanted to give euphoria a massive shout out too <3)


	6. birthdays, shenanigans and hidden secrets (are all related)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Marinette's birthday! A lot happens - including the beginning of the Main Plotline. Enjoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahahhahahahahahaha im really sorry ive been missing for so long but it's two days until this fic is a month old :) which is cool just wanted to let u know so yeah im sorry i will do better!!! life just went blergh all at once but it's cool now so yay updates!!!

Tomorrow was Marinette’s birthday. Adrien had known this for a week, two – three (with Alya’s help, but he’d forgotten somewhere in the middle) and yet somehow, he hadn’t even managed to get her a gift.

He’d been thinking about gifts, of course – he knew her birthday was in December and he was always thinking about ways to repay her for all the work she put in for his youtube channel. But he wanted to get her a gift both as Chat Noir and as Adrien – and it had gotten to the day before, and he still hadn’t gotten the chance to buy her anything.

It wasn’t exactly that he hadn’t had the _chance, _per se. It was more that he really wanted to get her something meaningful, and everything he saw didn’t exactly cut it.

He could buy her fabric – but he wasn’t sure what she’d like. He could buy her flowers – but he didn’t really want to give off the wrong impression. But what else could he get her?

Marinette’s gifts were awesome. Each and every one of them was handmade – within three years he’d gotten two scarves and a sweater, all that he wore frequently. Plus the lucky charm he’d received all those years ago. He basically never took that out of his pocket, even though the string was beginning to fray, and the beads had been worn down to much duller than they were originally intended to be.

Could he…

No. How do you even make a lucky charm?

But it was meaningful, and Marinette was the type of person to admire thought over money any day…

With a few google searches, a rifle around his room for beads from some modelling shoot and a movie in the background, he got to work.

* * *

“Hi everyone! I’m Adrien Agreste, and I am not in my bedroom!” Adrien moved the camera to catch sections of the new, but not unfamiliar background in the frame. “I’m actually at Marinette’s house today – because it’s her birthday! Right now she’s out with her best friend getting a celebratory breakfast, and then I’m going shopping with her and Chloe before we catch lunch – and then she’s coming back here for her surprise party! Right now it is-“ he paused to check his watch – “half past nine in the morning, and Mari has been gone for ten minutes or so – so that gives Nino and I an hour or two before I have to leave and be the distraction!”

Nino popped up in the background, a box in hand. He supported it with his knee, giving him a free hand to wave enthusiastically at the camera. Adrien turned, returning the grin and chuckling as the box almost slipped from Nino’s fingers. “Yeah,” Adrien said, turning back to the camera, “we’re trying to make it seem like the breakfast and lunch is the present – whilst everyone else gets set up here for the party!”

Nino put the box down, brushing his hands as if he was proud of doing some big job. “Mari is pretty oblivious on a good day, so this should work. Fingers crossed!”

The two of them made a show of crossing their fingers over exaggeratedly, and Adrien grinned, resting the camera against some surface. “So now I’m going to do a time lapse or something of us setting up, and then leave the camera here whilst we go shopping. Actually, you’ll probably get a part 2 of this video – or part 1, whichever goes up first – where we do a shopping montage! You guys haven’t met Chlo yet, so that might be cool. Anyway, there’s a lot to do, so I’ll get started now!”

He moved away from the camera, and the video quickly sped up to some cheerful background music of Adrien and Nino setting up banners and bunting, with brief pauses in the work to make peace signs at the camera or just goof off. After a while, the tables had been set up and covered with bright pink cloth, half the decorations were set up, and Nino had just gotten started on pumping balloons when Adrien walked up to the camera.

“It’s time for me to go – can you believe it’s been an hour and a half? Anyway, I’m leaving you in Nino’s hands-“ Nino looked up at his name, somehow letting the balloon go in the process- “who I probably shouldn’t trust – but he’ll be with Alya, who knows her way around the camera. The next time you’ll see me is at the surprise party!”

* * *

He waved vigorously, before placing the camera back down.

A shaky shot of two legs walking down the street filled the screen. The camera quickly panned up, showing Marinette and Alya, both with joyful smiles on their faces, walking with interlinked arms. Marinette was giggling at something Alya was saying as they neared.

“Marinette! Alya!” Adrien’s distinctive voice called from behind the camera. Both girls looked up, shocked. “Ready to go shopping?”

Mari looked around. “Where’s Chloe?”

“Right here, Dupain-Cheng,” the blonde made herself known as she stepped into the frame, a certain warmth in her tone that had been missing the first few years of their teenage careers. “I hope you’re wearing comfortable shoes.”

Marinette nodded. “But if we need to stop, it is my birthday. Anything I say goes,” she said, seeming to take a childish pride in the fact. It made Adrien chuckle.

“Oh!” He exclaimed. “We need to sing!”

The three teens almost immediately jumped into an incredibly off-key, charming rendition of happy birthday to a blushing Marinette, whooping loud enough for all of Paris to hear them when they finished. Marinette’s shushing was half-hearted, and the smile on her face let them know that she wasn’t truly annoyed at their noise – no matter how overbearing it was.

“We should get going!” Adrien said.

Marinette turned to Alya. “Are you sure you can’t come?”

“I couldn’t find a babysitter for the middle of the day, and Nino’s busy – duty calls. I’ll see you later, though?” Alya made it seem like a question.

“Later?” Marinette asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Like, tomorrow? Or tonight, if you want to facetime,” she played off.

“Yeah, yeah. Thank you for breakfast.” The best friends exchanged a sweet hug, before Mari turned to the two blondes.

“Where are we going first?”

* * *

Two hours later, and Adrien had a hell of a lot of footage he’d probably make into a montage – and they were now sitting in a large restaurant – one of the fanciest the local shopping centre had to offer – trying all the desserts.

“Do you think if we tell them it’s her birthday we’ll get a free dessert?”

Marinette groaned. “Please don’t. I’ve been serenaded four times today, and I cannot eat another bite. That was enough cake to last me a lifetime.”

“Don’t forget brownies.”

“And ice cream!” Adrien piped in.

“Stop. I’ll be sick if you continue, and eighteen is a pretty big one. Wouldn’t want to throw up on camera.”

“Oh yeah!” Chloe exclaimed suddenly. “You can drink now!”

“I can. Not that I haven’t before, but everything alcohol related is now legal.”

She paused, looking straight into the camera. “Don’t underage drink, kids. It’s not worth it.”

“I never drank underage,” protested Adrien. Both Chloe and Marinette offered disbelieving looks.

“Actually,” Chloe cracked after a second, “we’re talking to the guy who wasn’t allowed to a proper party until he was sixteen. If he’d drank, his father would probably have pulled him out of school. I bet he had breathalyser tests waiting for him every evening.”

“Chloe!” Adrien said, shoving the blonde girl softly. She shrugged.

“We’ll get you drunk, Adrikins.” she promised. “And you, too, Marinette. Sooner or later.”

“I’m kind of betting on the sooner, considering how mysterious you guys are being.” Marinette said. “But anyway… where are we headed next?”

* * *

Marinette and Chloe were caught up in a heated conversation about makeup that Adrien didn’t fully understand, but he was content to walk behind them, pointing the camera at their retreating figures, the bags in their hands, and occasionally, the stores they were passing. In the restaurant, they’d gotten recognised twice – and one of the two times, Mari had been the one that was asked for an autograph (although, when they noticed he was sitting next to her, the trio just about passed out.) But he was pretty content watching from a distance – and he didn’t have a half bad view, either.

Just in case, he wasn’t clear, he was talking about Marinette’s ass.

Yes, he knew it was very non-platonic to think about your best friend’s ass, but he had been thinking a lot of things recently (like how cute the little dusting of freckles on her nose was, or how her hair seemed to glow in just about all light, and how she was so damn short, it felt like he had to protect her) and once he’d noticed that her behind wasn’t something to play off, he hadn’t been able to retract his eyes since.

He felt like there was a big, bright red arrow pointing at him labelled ‘FOOL’ for the world to see. He was being so obvious with his looking. He was _recording _it, for Christ’s sake.

But he didn’t have to have feelings. He could just look. And he could look again, and again, and again; much like he was doing now.

The lucky charm he was going to give her burned in his own pocket, even though he could barely feel it there. He’d finished it surprisingly quickly (and enjoyed the second half of the movie with no distractions), but with every second that ticked past, he doubted himself more.

Chloe, who had come up with the idea of going shopping, had just given her a gift in the form of a couple hundred euros to spend in gift cards all over the mall – and he hadn’t even batted an eyelid. Adrien could’ve done that, if he wanted. He had money. More than enough to buy her the most beautiful diamond necklace he could find and barely make a dent.

But he’d always felt that money was sort of superficial (of course, this was coming from a person who had more than enough of it.) And for a very long time, he’d thought she felt the same way.

But she sure looked damn happy carrying bags of shopping that she could afford because Chloe Bourgeois had funded it as a birthday gift. When the gift had been offered, she didn’t even try to decline it.

Adrien sighed. Focussing on her beautiful ass was far better than worrying about the thing he got her. It was too late to change it, anyway. He just had to have faith.

* * *

“Happy birthday!” All of Marinette’s classmates and close friends called from inside the bakery, springing out from behind sofas and tables and an enormous cake courtesy of Marinette’s parents. The bakery was far more colourful than before – full of balloons and confetti. Adrien noted that Nino was holding his camera, filming all of Marinette’s reactions.

Marinette. Although she’d started to pick up on the fact that there was probably something happening later, her shock (and elation) were completely genuine – as she let out an excited shriek at the greeting, placing her hands over her smile. “Oh my god,” she whispered so only Adrien, who stood close enough by her side to hear her, could hear. “Who planned this?”

“Alya, Nino and I.” He answered. “Do you like it?”

Her eyes filled with tears, and for a brief moment, Adrien was overcome with worry, before she nodded with a large grin, turning to hug him tightly (and drawing an ‘aww’ from the party guests that both pretended to ignore.) “It’s perfect,” she said into his chest, pulling him even tighter against her and sniffling happily.

Adrien chuckled, patting her head softly. “I know you said you didn’t want any more cake, but could you stomach a little bit of partying? I’m sure you’ll feel different in a couple of hours.”

She pulled back and nodded, looking around. “Thank you everyone!” She called out, surveying the guests. “For coming, to celebrate my birthday. It means a lot.”

A door opening drew Adrien’s attention, and a new guest walked in – one that hadn’t been in town for a while. “Am I too late?” The boy asked with a soft smile. “I’ve been told I’m pretty good at singing, so it would suck to miss the ‘happy birthday’ song.”

Marinette turned like something out of a movie – in complete slow motion. “Luka?” she asked, jaw dropping. The boy nodded, the blue tips of his hair swishing with the movement.

Within an instant she was wrapped up in his arms, and his was supporting her with an arm wrapped around her ass (that ignited an unwelcome spark of some ugly emotion in Adrien) and another in her hair as he hugged her tightly. “Hi, Ma-ma-marinette. Happy birthday.”

Adrien wasn’t exactly sure when it had happened, because he hadn’t really been there for it – but for Luka’s last few years of schooling, him and Marinette had gotten incredibly close incredibly fast – until she was spending a good portion of her time with him. Not that he was ever jealous, of course. Whenever Adrien asked, she was always free. Most of the time.

But two or so years ago Luka had left to go to a prestigious music university in London, and he only ever truly came home for summer – save for last year’s Christmas visit. So the pair hadn’t seen each other for a good three months at the least, if they’d met up on the last day of his holiday in Paris.

It didn’t mean they had to attach themselves to each other, though.

As if sensing his train of thought, Marinette untangled her limbs from around Luka, who (begrudgingly?) set her down, choosing instead to smile down at her. If Adrien made Marinette look small, Luka practically dwarfed her – holding at least a foot over her whilst slouched.

She turned around. “Alright. Let’s get this party started!”

* * *

It was very easy, Adrien found out, to get drunk when you don’t know what you’re doing. He wasn’t speaking from personal experience, of course – when he got that first warm feeling in his chest, he ate three slices of cake on the spot until it went away. He wouldn’t like to face his father drunk. He didn’t know what would come out.

The birthday girl, however, was drunk off her (very nice) ass. Come seven pm, about an hour into the party, she’d been offered her first beer – which she very quickly traded out for a cider, then two, then three. And then at half eight, with half the room tipsy as hell, Chloe had brought out the big guns.

Four bottles of straight vodka that somehow tasted like lemonade. The stuff that you took one sip of and had to eat three slices of cake to avoid the effect of.

Marinette downed almost an entire bottle of the stuff. So, by nine, with the party in full swing, she was very, very drunk.

The party mostly consisted of everyone dancing and chatting and dancing some more, then getting sweaty and sitting out for a single song before another incredible song came on and even though they weren’t cool yet, they had to continue dancing. Nobody had been sick yet, though.

But Adrien was pretty damn sure that come tomorrow morning there would be many embarrassing photos of almost everyone in this room.

Tipsy Marinette was very, very loud. Not in a bad way – it was pretty endearing, actually – but in a way that made her ten times more outspoken than before. If she had an opinion on the song, she would shout it at the top of her half-gone voice, which was now husky and very attractive in a different way. Not that he was attracted to her. She was drunk. It was a different side of her; one that nobody could blame him for being shocked at.

But when the party came to a close, and people started leaving, the designated Cleanup Crew (Adrien, Nino, Alya, Chloe) (one of which would probably do nothing) (take a guess which one) was also stuck with nursing the three very drunk now-legal adults to bed.

Kim and Max (both passed out from however much they decided to consume) took up a sofa each. But Mari’s bedroom was a set of stairs and a ladder up; and nobody else particularly wanted the job.

“Why don’t you do it, Adrien?” Alya asked coyly. “You’re the strongest.”

“Hey,” Nino protested. Alya raised an eyebrow at him – and he quickly quietened.

“I mean, I can. Don’t you want the help cleaning up, though?”

Alya shrugged. “I think we’ll manage.”

Adrien looked over to Marinette, who was half asleep, leaning on the side of a couch, adorable in her light makeup and day outfit. The stench of alcohol would need to be showered off, though – but Adrien didn’t massively mind it.

“Come on,” he said, moving a hand under her legs to gain a good grip. “Let’s get you upstairs. To bed.”

She made a noncommittal grunt, as if she’d heard him speak but had no idea what he said, and he took it as a sign that she was okay with him lifting her up. With a slight exhale of effort, he picked her up, making his way to the stairs.

The trip upwards took a little while – not as long as he’d envisioned – until they were finally in her room. Her bed was another ladder up, but he figured he’d seen her sleep on the chaise many times, so it would work just fine for tonight.

Not that he’d ever seen her sleeping. As Adrien. As Chat, it was a different story. Chats were kind of nocturnal anyway – so that could be an excuse.

He set her down, lingering for a second. The lucky charm he’d made for her still sat in his pocket, ungifted. He hadn’t even thought to wrap it or anything (although this tiny thing next to the massive boxes she had downstairs from everyone else seemed pretty inadequate.)

He placed it on her desk, and left a little note next to it. _Morning, Mari. Happy (late) birthday. A lucky charm for you, as a thanks for your one for me all those years ago. Hasn’t failed me yet. XO, Adrien._

Before he could cross out the XO, he had left, shutting the trap door quietly and moving to clean up the mess their Lycée classmates had left behind.

* * *

Adrien really didn’t know why he was patrolling as Chat Noir. Clean-up had finished at about one (as far as parties went, with everyone drunk by nine, it was pretty timid.) and he’d been home for an hour, maybe two, when he realised he could not sleep no matter how hard he tried.

Paris was very quiet at three in the morning. There were no cars – only the soft buzzing of streetlamps and the caress of a cold and yet not unwelcome wind on his cheeks. He seemed to glide from rooftop to rooftop in the night, somehow feeling slightly nostalgic and at peace all the same.

It was a shame you couldn’t see any stars through all this light pollution. He felt like they’d fit his mood pretty well.

Once again, as he always seemed to be doing recently, he found himself on Marinette’s balcony – mere hours after he’d left as his civilian self. His anxiousness was probably stemming from the present, he reasoned. He could cross out the XO, make it seem like a completely friendly gift-

There was shuffling from inside the room. Was Marinette… awake?

He opened the skylight, dropping into her room quietly and moving into the centre of the room with expert stealth, if he did say so himself. But the room was as dark as the outside world – save for a little sliver of light from underneath the bathroom window.

More shuffling. The sound of a tap running. Marinette was awake.

Chat stood up straight when the door opened, having to squint slightly at the sudden light. He did have night vision in the suit, but a sudden transition from one to the other still stung. But through the haze, he spotted a very sleepy, still probably drunk Marinette also squinting.

She’d changed into pyjamas, he realized. And she hadn’t done a very good job of it.

Her top was a button up, and the top three were all off by one before she’d given up, allowing the material to part at the waist, revealing a very nicely toned stomach. And her shorts (a completely different pattern) were on backwards – and didn’t do much of hiding her ass.

Not that he was omplaining of course.

She shut the light off, stumbling over to the ladder to get up to her bed, except she tripped and Chat was at her side in an instant, holding her arms to support her entire weight (which wasn’t much – she was tiny.)

“Princess?” He whispered tenderly, looking down at her. “Are you okay?”

Her head tilted up, but her eyes were closed. “Adrien?” She slurred.

His blood ran cold. He blinked. And then, a second later, a soft pair of lips were on his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOP WHAT IS UP
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments!!!!! Thank you so much for reading!!!
> 
> :))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))0 <--the positivity angel has visited you. it is me. i am positivity angel. have some optimism. and a lovely day.


	7. kissing in the middle of the night, and remembering it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kiss is... mentioned. The title sounds a little like a Cards Against Humanity card.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M REALLY SORRY THIS TOOK LIKE 2 WEEKS I FORGOT IT EXISTED IN THE MIDST OF OTHER THINGS

Marinette. Was. Kissing. Him.

Her lips were soft, was his first thought. He knew she owned a lip balm, and applied it somewhat religiously – but god damn, it worked well for her. She tasted a little like the alcohol he knew she’d had hours prior, and a lot like toothpaste. Did she brush her teeth?

Oh my god. He was kissing her. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

It was… nice. Not really like how they described it in movies, with the fireworks and the flowers everywhere – although he suspected that was because she was very drunk and half asleep, and they weren’t really _kissing, _more just pressing lips. But it sent a jolt of some strong electricity to his spine, straight down the the pit of his stomach, and… _lower._

Only a little bit, though. He wasn’t a creep.

But she’d called him Adrien. Right now, he was fully decked out in leather, and had previously been sporting the signature smirk, too (although it was hard to do anything other than kiss back when you were being kissed – smirk included.)

Did she know his identity?

She pulled back first, eyes still shut either from the exertion or the sleep deprivation, and a loud sigh that really sounded like something else and didn’t help his small (and slowly growing) problem. “Marinette?” He asked again, quietly.

She fell somewhat limp in his arms, mouth opening slightly. Like a young child, he imagined – a really tired young child.

Well that made his _little problem _all the more creepy. God, Adrien. Pull yourself together.

“Mari?” He tried again, one hand taking the brunt of her weight around her waist and the other moving to tap her shoulder softly. No response. Breathing steady.

Dear god. She really was asleep.

He moved, somewhat out of instinct, to pick her up princess-style (pun very much intended) so as to avoid her falling over. Not that she would when he had her, though. He wouldn’t let her fall.

Climbing a ladder with no hands, however, was a newly discovered challenge. Especially with the weight of an (no matter how small) entire person in your arms. The manouveur was slow, and a little bit awkward, because he was trying not to make his suit rub in any of the wrong places and make his problem even _worse _and also he really wanted Marinette to stay asleep and not wake up and possibly tell him she’d figured out he was Chat Noir.

Had she figured it out? Had she not?

Did she kiss him because she thought he was Adrien? Or because she knew he and Chat were one in the same?

He slipped her onto her bed quietly, making sure her duvet covered her, and her head looked comfortable. “Well,” he whispered, moving a strand of midnight-black hair from her cheek. “I suppose this is goodnight, Princess.”

Almost as if in response, she rolled over, trapping his hand between her head and the pillow. He chuckled softly, moving her again.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he reassured. “Well – today, technically, but- you’re asleep, why am I talking to you?” He chuckled to himself, rubbing an awkward crick in the back of his neck. “Bye, Mari.”

And then, with a fleeting breeze of cold air, he was gone.

* * *

_Watch this video and tell me they are not the cutest_

_MARI OH MY GOD U DESERVE THE WORLD BABYYYY_

_Adrien Agreste? More like Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng considering how much she’s on the channel_

_Why are they so adorable_

_WHOLESOME CONTENT I SIGNED UP FOR_

_Choo choo bitch this video is taking me to heaven_

_They are so damn cuteeee_

_I wish someone threw me a birthday party like this_

_Haha idk what world they’re on but that is LOVE_

_#ADRIENETTE _

_I cannot even deal he is so excited about throwing her a party_

_Cute cute cute cute cuteeeeeeee_

_I have no words this is so great_

_Damn the boi really thought of everything didn’t he_

_WAIT CAN WE SEND MARI GIFTS_

_My broke ass is crying where do all her friends get the money for presents from_

* * *

The next morning, Adrien Agreste was, to put it simply, a ball of nerves. Usually he was pretty good at sitting still – but for the life of him, he couldn’t stop both of his legs from bouncing underneath the table – as well as the cryptic drum beat he was keeping with a pen on his desk. Next to him, Nino was very kindly acting like it didn’t bother him – but the inquisitive glances he received every time he looked vaguely to the left made him sure that he would be deeply questioned about it as soon as school was out.

True to his intuition, the moment school ended for the day, Adrien shot up to leave and get home as soon as possible – but Nino was faster. “Woah, dude,” he said, holding out a hand to slow his best friend slightly. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Adrien answered, a little too quickly. Lie. Nino’s eyebrow quirked.

“Are you stressed about something? Is it the YouTube channel?”

“No. I actually have two videos queued up.” Truth. There was the other onw with Marinette, and then this silly one he’d filmed where he tried to make things using five minute DIY videos his followers had sent in (which left him with a horrible scarf, a paper mache cup, and a sad attempt at a gingerbread house.)

“Then what is it?” Nino asked. “Can I help?”

Adrien shook his head. Truth. Nino couldn’t offer any insight without the full story – that he couldn’t give. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be, dude.” Nino pulled up a pretty convincing carefree smile. “Just let me know if there’s anything I can do. I don’t mind.”

“Will do,” Adrien said, walking towards his car – and then, a second later, “thank you.”

“No problem!” Nino called as Adrien slipped into the car.

He couldn’t talk to Nino about it. But there was one person he was going to see today – and she could definitely talk about the whole superhero dilemma thing with him.

* * *

“I think someone might know my civilian identity.” He blurted as soon as Ladybug landed on the Eiffel Tower. She straightened from her landing, looking over to him.

“Why?” She asked, voice calm and collected as she always was. She took a seat next to him – just far enough to be friendly, and not something more. Always a distance apart.

“We were… talking. I said hi – let’s just say she hadn’t seen my face yet – and she called me by my civilian name, and then it was all kind of a blur – it’s complicated.”

“Okay,” she leant back, using her wrists to support her, and looked upwards like he knew she tended to do when she was thinking about something important. “Are you sure she knows your identity?”

“Well, no- but I can’t exactly ask her, right? I’d give my identity away if she didn’t know anything, and I’d confirm it if she did.”

“Well, why don’t you ask her what she remembers of that night? Be vague – it’ll get you everywhere.”

“It… it will?”

Ladybug nodded. “Definitely. For all the girl knows, you’re talking about something completely different.”

His thoughts drifted to the kiss. If she didn’t remember the conversation, would Mari remember that?

It was a pretty big moment for him – awkward as it may have been. But he didn’t want her to just forget it. He’d enjoyed the kiss. If he got the chance, he’d do it again.

But not without her permission. And she’d probably say no – she was really drunk at the time. What if she doesn’t remember anything? Or, worse, what if she remembers that he got a semi because she gave him the worst kiss in human history? (Well, not the _worst _kiss – it was enjoyable enough for his dick, apparently.) What if he was overthinking it?

“Get out of your head, Chat,” Ladybug said softly, head still tilted up to the sky, although he noted that her eyes were closed now. “Everything will work itself out. Do you trust this girl?”

“Yes,” he found himself saying before his mind could register – although it agreed with him. Hee trusted Marinette. With everything.

Ladybug opened her eyes, tilting her head to him and offering a warm smile. “Then it’ll be fine. Be careful, though; warn her, if she does know, about the dangers of it all. She can’t tell anyone that she knows you.”

It sparked something in his stomach. A fire.

Adrien nodded. “I got it, My Lady. Thank you.”

She shrugged. “It’s no problem, Chaton. I’m glad to help.”

“Well,” he said, standing and stretching his arms above his head. “Would you like to watch something here or actually patrol?”

* * *

An hour later – after patrol, at almost midnight, he was knocking once again on Marinette’s skylight. The girl in question, of course, was sewing what looked like a dress – but with his experience with fashion, could really be just about anything.

She looked up, and her face immediately stretched into a grin. “Kitty!” She called, getting up and rushing to open the window for him, even though they both knew he could get it himself if he really wanted. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s late, Princess.” He said as he climbed into the warmth of her room, shutting the skylight behind him. “Aren’t you tired?”

She nodded – although the prancing to get back to her desk wasn’t really proving her case. “I’m too fired up to sleep. I was thinking about this dress for an hour before I decided to get up and just sew some more already. And here I am.”

So it _was_ a dress. Huh.

He draped himself over her chemise, watching as she sewed, taking out a pin every few seconds or so. “Doesn’t the sound wake your parents?”

“Their ceiling has been soundproofed since I was fourteen. They know I sew into ungodly hours of the night, and they both need to be up super early for the bakery – it was a good investment. Means I can technically be as loud as I like, within regulation. They could still hear me through the walls.”

Chat nodded in understanding. “Princess, I wanted to ask you something.”

She stopped sewing, looking up at him with two pins still in her mouth. “Go ahead,” she mumbled around them.

“The night of your birthday…” he began. “Do you remember me being there?”

She removed the pins from between her lips, placing them in a pin cushion. “You weren’t at the party.”

“No,” he let out a small exhale of amusement. “No, I wasn’t. But I came around – later – just to wish you happy birthday, and… you were pretty out of it.”

Her cheeks heated. “I was?” She asked.

“Well, I think you were drunk, and you came out of the bathroom and stumbled into me. Do you not remember?”

She shook her head, ears slowly turning as pink as her walls. “Did I say anything strange?”

“Did you- no. You didn’t say anything strange.”

“Well then did I do something strange?”

Chat Noir thought about it for a second. “Well, after you stumbled into me,” his lips quirked up, “you passed out in my arms. Standing up.”

Marinette groaned. “Really?”

“Yup. Started snoring and drooling all in one. Very civilised.”

“Oh shut it, silly cat,” she sighed. “Ugh. Sounds like me. I’m a clingy drunk.”

“I could tell,” he commented, and she shot him a playful glare.

“I have half a mind to poke you with one of these pins,” she threatened with a small smirk.

“You wouldn’t dare!” He laughed, and so did she, before turning back to her sewing.

And as Chat Noir watched her, he found that there was a certain feeling of emptiness in his chest at the thought that she didn’t remember their kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> adrien,,,, boi
> 
> this was a slightly shorter chapter, in which there is a lot of obliviousness that could be blinked away (literally)... our silly little babes
> 
> leave kudos and comments!!!


	8. making a video, and thinking a lot about your feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien posts a video. He does a lot of thinking about what Marinette really means to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took like two and a half weeks!!! To be perfectly honest, I don't have an excuse - school, and exams, and life all caught up to me at once and this kind of took a backseat. To all of you still with me - thank you!! I hope you had an excellent Christmas/Hannukah (sorry im jewish i had to throw that one in there) and an amazing New Year!!!!! (also, it's 2020, eww.) I hope you enjoy the chapter!

“Hi everyone, Adrien Agreste here!” The camera was weirdly close to his face – as if he were holding a vlog camera, and so couldn’t see the proportions of his face. “Now I know I missed Christmas and New Year’s – there’ll be a Christmas video out next week, I think – but if you’re mad, I have a certain friend who I’d definitely blame for telling me to keep off social media and just have fun for the holidays, so… go attack her.”

“He means me!” Called Marinette’s voice from behind Adrien. Unconsciously, Adrien’s lips curled into a smile, and he turned, allowing the camera to see past him into Marinette’s still very Christmassy apartement. She was caught up in tinsel, holding several tree decorations, but she waved at the camera. Adrien turned back.

“So, as you can probably see…” He gestured to the somewhat naked tree, “We’re going to be taking down Christmas things whilsttalking about our Christmasses! Which should be fun.”

Marinette set the things in her hands down into a box, before struggling with the tinsel that was somehow around both of her arms. “What he means,” she said, sparing a glance to the camera before getting caught up (pun intended!) with the tinsel, “is that I will probably be doing all the clearing away, because it’s my house, and Adrien will sit, watch, answer some questions, and yell me one whenever he feels like it.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault my family didn’t have a Christmas tree this year,” Adrien chuckled as Marinette struggled fruitlessly with the tinsel. “Here, let me help you with that.”

He put down the camera, half-jogging over to her to try and untangle the tinsel. “How did you even-“

“Don’t,” Marinette sighed, pulling at the silver decoration. “I was keeping it on one arm, but then that arm got full, so I was wrapping it around the other arm, and then I was moving around, taking care of other decorations… my family kind of goes overboard.”

“It’s okay, I like it,” Adrien said softly. “Duck? Let me lift this over your head.”

“I’m not sure this makes very interesting content, Adrien,” Marinette laughed, obeying. He pulled a piece of tinsel over to the front, loosening it slightly.

“Oh, right.” He looked back at the camera. “We’ll click our fingers, and you’l be magically untangled. Ready?”

Marinette nodded. “One…”

“Two…”

“Three!”

A second later, they were in the exact same positions, except Marinette was free, and was holding the tinsel victoriously over her head. Adrien was watching, his chest to her back, smiling.

“That took like twenty minutes. You should’ve recorded it – that could’ve been your video.” She smiled, reaching over to place the tinsel (the very large amount of tinsel, should he say) in the decorations box.

“I’m not sure it would’ve been very entertaining.” He said. “So, Marinette. You go first. What did you do over Christmas?”

Marinette’s eyes visibly brightened. “Well, I woke up to this tradition my parents have with the stockings…”

* * *

The comments section was flooded with hundreds of thousands of well wishes for the rest of their holidays, as well as funny stories about things that happened to his subscribers over the holidays. They’d started out by talking about their Christmasses, then described the New Year’s Party that Kim had thrown, before talking about their New Year’s Resolutions. Marinette had resolved to not be late as much – which everyone knew was her resolution each year, and although it worked for a while, the girl was stuck in her habits. Adrien had resolved to be more open with his fans, and stay loyal to his channel – which was now his main way of communicating with them.

But with a little over a week before he had to return to Lycee, Adrien was what you’d call restless. He could study all he wanted; he could practice piano, and take extra fencing classes (not that he could – everything was off for the holidays, so no Mandarin, either) but his mind was stuck on one thing.

Marinette.

He knew, somewhere deep down, that friends did not think about other friends this way. You don’t think about whether you have a crush on your friend or not if you don’t have a crush on them. You don’t think about holding their hand, and going on dates, and kissing…

But he’d imagined all of this with Ladybug for such a long time, it just felt strange, rethinking it with Marinette. Yes, they felt different – with Ladybug, he’d never be able to go see a movie, or sit in a restaurant, or take a walk in the park, without both of them being stopped and harassed. And yes, he supposed it was sort of the same for him as Adrien, it was just better as a civilian.

His father would freak out if he went on a date with Marinette, though. At least as Chat, he got a bit of anonymity.

One of the things that had remained on his mind was the dress Marinette had worn to Kim’s New Year’s Party. He’d shown up in a shirt and jeans, expecting people would dress somewhat casually, too (the only person he’d checked with is Nino – he now realized Nino is just a very casual person.) But he knew for a fact Marinette had made her own dress; and it was a black, shimmery, silky kind of dress with a very flattering neckline…

Did he want to go out with her? Well, yes of course _ he _did – and the majority of his fanbase – but he knew that when he started dating her (_if _he started dating her – he didn’t even know if she liked him back), she’d have a very annoyed Gabriel Agreste (even more than normal) and about 50,000 angry twelve-year-old girls on her back. And it would all be because of him.

He also couldn’t stop thinking about their kiss. The kiss she’d forgotten. The kiss that was burned into his memory – all four seconds of it. As far as kisses go, that one was pretty pathetic – one party was very drunk at the time, and the other was far too stunned to do anything but stand there – _let alone _kiss back. But it was his and Marinette’s first kiss. That had to mean something.

If Marinette didn’t like Adrien-him, did he have a shot as Chat Noir?

He winced at that. Although his Lady thought he did, he felt bad enough having feelings for both girls at the same time. He shouldn’t date anyone as Chat Noir, anyway. Fans, in his experience, were very good at finding out about even the secretes of relationships (and if he was dating Marinette, he’d want to parade it to the world), and if the public found out, so did Hawkmoth, which was like painting a giant red target sign on her back.

Geez. He really was in a hopeless situation, wasn’t he?

“Plagg, I don’t know what to do…” Adrien groaned from his comfortable position in bed. Plagg, next to him – as always – was eating a piece of camembert. It stunk, yes – but he’d have been kept up by his thoughts with or without the stench.

“Just tell her you like her,” Plagg said, somehow swallowing an entire piece at once. “What could go wrong?”

“She says no?” Adrien leant up to look at his kwami. “Then it becomes really awkward between us, she starts avoiding me, and I end up losing a friend because I couldn’t keep my feelings to myself. And then if I lose Marinette, I lose Alya, too – and if Alya doesn’t want to hang out with me, she’ll keep Nino away most of the time as well, and I’ll have to revert back to having Chloe as my best friend.”

“Wow,” commented Plagg, picking up another slice of cheese. “Complicated.”

“Exactly,” Adrien groaned. “But I really want to be in a relationship with her. Is this why they call them crushes? I feel crushed.”

Plagg ate the last parts of his cheese, flying over to be next to Adrien’s head. “Listen, kid,” he begun. “I have lived for a long time – and never ever in that time has anyone’s stupid as hell assumption about how a situation would go actually came true. You’re Chat Noir! Half of Paris loves you. As Adrien, and as Chat, you have a good relationship with Marinette. Confession or no confession; your crush will still put a strain on your relationship. You either confess to her now, or distance yourself trying to get over her and never heal.”

Adrien sighed. “I… I don’t know. I really don’t want to lose her as a friend – and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like me like that. It took years for us to be close enough to have an actual conversation – let alone be friends! She’s- We- Ugh!”

Plagg flew away. “Whatever, kid. Do what you want. But stop complaining about it. I’ve told you what I can.”

Adrien shut his eyes. The image of Marinette filled his vision. Marinette earlier today, Marinette on New Year’s, Marinette on her birthday when they kissed-

He let out a large sigh, flinging an arm over his face. He’d sleep, and he’d wake up tomorrow closer to a solution. Definitely.

* * *

_They are literally the cutes duo omg I could die right now and be satisfied_

_HAPPY NEW YEAR YOU GUYS TURNS OUT I HAVE 2020 VISION NOW_

_How are they not dating???? The chemistry… the romance…_

_When she said that he spent almost his entire holidays at her house my heart broke and re-healed itself like yess they’re spending time together but noo his family are horrible_

_^^YES IT’S SO EASY TO FORGET BUT HIS DAD’S A DICK ISN’T HE_

_Kill Gabriel Agreste 2k20_

_No he gotta survive so Adrien can thrive_

_Bitch Adrien makes enough money off of this channel alone kill Gabriel Agreste_

_HAPPY NOEL!!!_

_Is he ever gonna do like,,,, a meet and greet? With mari and alya and nino? Cuz I’d pay a shit ton_

_The tinsel thing im dying she’s so clumsy how tf_

_MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM CANADA!!!_

* * *

“Good evening, Chat.”

For a second, feet swinging off the edge of the Eiffel Tower, although it was a totally stupid idea, Chat imagined it was Marinette’s voice behind him – and not Ladybug’s. He silenced the thought – turning with a full expectation to see a red dotted suit. But no, in front of him stood Marinette – sweet, innocent Marinette, with the kindest smile on her face.

“Princess?” Chat asked, standing. “How did you get up here?”

“Does it matter?” She smiled. “I’m with you, so now I’m safe.”

“It kind of does – come here,” he said. “Let me hold onto you so you don’t fall. We’re pretty high up.”

Marinette stepped willingly into his arms, hands coming to rest on his chest. She was close; when she looked up at him with her big blue eyes, it took his breath away.

“I’m not scared,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. “If I do fall, you’d save me.”

“Princess…” the words came out almost like a groan. She was so close to him – his hands were wrapped all the way around her waist – and she was so small, and fragile, and she was staring up at him like _that-_

She tilted her head up slightly, and their lips were touching. And this time, he didn’t hesitate. He kissed back, one hand reaching up to cup her back so he could dip her slightly, the other supporting her waist. Her hands curled up into the hair at the base of his neck, twisting, pulling slightly. He smiled into the kiss. She took the chance to do this thing with his lip – bite on it slightly, but then soothe it with her tongue. It drove him crazy.

He pulled back first – not for lack of want, but for a much needed breath of oxygen before he was diving back into her jawline, placing chaste, harsh kisses going all the way up to her ear.

“Chat,” she whispered as if it were a breathy moan – and all the blood in his body very suddenly rushed south. “I have something to tell you.”

He pulled back, looking into her eyes again. She was panting slightly – her beautiful chest falling up and down in slightly uneven breaths. Her lips were swollen, and slightly parted. _He’d _done that to her. A spike of pride hit his chest. “What is it, Princess?”

“I… I think I love-“

His eyes widened. “What? Princess, say it again.”

“Chat. I love y-“

* * *

Adrien awoke to a kwami sitting on his forehead, eating cheese in a way so that it was almost touching his nose. “Plagg?” He asked, blearily, moving a hand to rub at his eye. “What are you doing? Did you- cheese- why am I awake?”

“I was sitting on your chest,” Plagg said, taking a bite out of the cheese, “but then your little friend popped up – so I figured I’d wake you up. I’ve lived many years, but that is a thing I’ll never understand.”

“My little- what?” Plagg flew off Adrien’s forehead, allowing him to look down his body. Sure enough, there was a… tent in the blanket, in the area between his legs.

He groaned, letting his head flop down. “You should’ve let me sleep. I was having the best dream.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” said Plagg, flying off.

“It was about Marinette. I was Chat Noir. She was on the Eiffel Tower with me…”

“Go sort yourself out! You’ve got a photoshoot today.”

Adrien blinked. Oh, right. He was hard, in need of a shower, and had a stressful day ahead of him. “I do, don’t I. Well, I’ll be in the shower if you need me!”

“I won’t need you!” Called Plagg. “That kind of stuff is _your _business!”

Adrien chuckled, walking into the bathroom and turning on the shower. He got in whilst it was still heating up, wincing at the lukewarm water at his feet.

He took care of… everything. And if thoughts of Marinette, of his dream, of their kiss (kisses?) came up in his head to help him, he didn’t mention it.

Well. If he hadn’t confirmed it the night before, he definitely had now. He had a huge, glaringly obvious crush on Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Fantastic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OUR BOI FINALLY DID IT HE AIN'T AN OBLIVIOUS BITCH NO MORE
> 
> Also writing boners is awkward im sorry about that if it sounded unnatural :)
> 
> Thoughts? Feelings? Don't forget to kudos and comment! And thank you for reading!!!!!!!


	9. reading thirst tweets and being thirsty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Videos are made. Adrien and Alya talk. Did Marinette always have that many freckles?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here have some food y'all must be starving due to lack of content for this fic

“Hello everyone! My name is Adrien Agreste, and today I am going to be reacting to thirst tweets!” Adrien chuckled. “Now, because I make my own content, and I’m French, I’m pretty sure buzzfeed is never going to fly me out to America to shoot one of these videos themselves – so, I thought I’d take matters into my own hands! In this mug,” he gestured to the table in front of him, which held a mug and a bowl, “are the tweets carefully compiled by my good friend Marinette, who most of you know,” he chuckled. “She is actually working the camera for me today – we thought it would be funny, because some of them will probably be about her, too! So, here we go!”

He picked up the first tweet, unfolding it. “Isn’t this such a huge waste of paper?” He mumbled, trying to get it open. “Okay; it says ‘I want Adrien Agreste to get me in a chokehold with his thighs.’” Hhe placed the tweet in the bowl, eyes furrowing. “With my _thighs? _Don’t you want, like, my arms or something?”

He looked under the table quickly. “I mean… I can kind of see it… moving on! The next one says… ‘Adrien is a sunshine boi (spelt B-O-I) and he deserves the world uwu.’ I know what uwu means, I think! Alya was explaining it the other day! And thank you, that’s so sweet, @agrestelover21.”

He picked up another. “Alright… this one is from @chatnoir72. ‘Whenever I get sad about my life, I look at a photo of #Adrienagreste, and remember that God really has blessed the world that I live in.” His cheeks heated slightly. “Oh my god, that’s so nice, thank you!”

He fished out another tweet. “Wow, this one’s long.” He chuckled. “Okay; ‘If I had a euro for every minute I spent thinking about #Adrienagreste, I’d be a millionaire. If I had a euro for every time I thought about him dating #MarinetteDC, I’d be a billionaire #takethehint #yourfansknowwhat’sup.’” He chuckled awkwardly, looking somewhere behind the camera. “Marinette, they’re onto us! Time to move to Lyon!”

Marinette’s laugh sounded from behind the camera, and Adrien’s face lit up with the sound. “Alright, next tweet…” he continued after a second, eyes focussing back in on the task at hand, and away from Marinette.

* * *

_Oh boi he in LOVE love_

_DID U SEE THAT ONE LOOK HE GAVE WHEN SHE LAUGHED OH MY GOD GET MARRIED_

_Lmao Adrien Agreste knows what a furry is what has the world come to_

_Le commentaire sur les cuisses ... mon anglais n'est pas très bon mais je suis d'accord!!*_

_ADRIEN IS IN LOVE WE KNOW IT OK_

_Wait im confused are they dating and trying to keep it a secret or are they actually that oblivious???_

_LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! 1000 LIKES!!!_

* * *

Adrien was in trouble, to put it shortly. Every time he was around Marinette (who, for some reason in his head, he had started referring to as ‘Marinette Agreste’ – only sometimes, and yes it’s creepy, but his heart did a happy little jig), he freaked out. Like, not Chat-Noir-blush-and-obsessively-flirt freak out. No, this was more a go-beet-red-and-shut-up kind of freak out.

Which, unfortunately, was the most obvious way to breadcast his crush to the entire world.

He’d never had a proper crush as Adrien before. Sure, he’d gone on dates (and Kagami was _great – _but his heart didn’t dance in his chest at the mere thought of her.) But when he saw Marinette, he couldn’t stop smiling. When she spoke to him, his cheeks gained a permanent shade of pink. And whenever she touched him (and god forsake she _hugged _him) he would promptly have a heart attack.

And Marinette was a very affectionate person. He hadn’t really noticed it before, but very affectionate. Very touchy.

This meant that within a week, the #adrienette tag was trending again, after the thirst tweets videos, and the fact that Marinette and Adrien hung out – as friends – a lot around Paris, and people had taken to randomly snapping pictures of the two of them, out. Although secretly, the idea that everyone was starting to ship them made Adrien very happy, it also made him super uncomfortable.

Because what if it made Marinette uncomfortable? What if he, blinded by his feelings for her, wasn’t noticing the strain it put on their relationship to be ‘shipped’ so intensely?

He had to talk to somebody about it.

Nino was a no-go, because although the two were best friends, Adrien had always spilt his shit on him, and it was getting kind of unfair that Nino had to just sit and take it all. Plus, Nino was kind of a laugh-in-your-face person; and he didn’t want that. Chloe was also not an option – although her and Marinette were friends now, Chloe was… judgemental. She’d offer her opinions left and right, and never end up talking through the issue with him. And Marinette… if he tried to keep it anonymous with her, she’d probably give him some awesome advice, but then he’d either blurt out his feelings then and there, or get so embarrassed that he never used the advice anyway.

That left one person in his friendship group that had no negative connotations (that he knew of.) And so, he picked up the phone, and texted Alya, asking if she could chat.

Ten minutes later and Alya was in his bedroom, eating a bag of popcorn and looking at Adrien quizzically. “You invited me over,” she said. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Marinette,” he sighed. Alya only raised an eyebrow. “I think I have a crush on her.”

Momentarily, Alya choked on a popcorn kernel, and Adrien was about to reach out to pat her on the back when she regained control over her airways. “Excuse me?” She half-wheezed. “You have a crush on Marinette?”

“Well, yeah,” said Adrien. “How could you not? She’s so funny, and sweet, and beautiful…”

“And her body is hot as hell,” Alya said, eating another piece of popcorn.

“Well, yeah – but no! Not just that! I just… like her.” Adrien groaned. “But she’s been nothing but friendly to me. What do I do?”

Alya snorted. “I am so glad I picked popcorn as my snack, because this is entertaining,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Asked Adrien.

Leaning back on the couch, Alya offered the bag to Adrien, who took a handful, and began to stress-eat as he waited for her response. “Fifteen year old Mari would literally be dying if I told her what you’re telling me now,” she said cryptically.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Adrien mumbled over the popcorn.

“It means,” Alya looked at him, “that fifteen-year-old Marinette had a gigantic, moster crush on you.”

Adrien blinked once, then twice. “What?”

“You didn’t know?” Alya asked. Adrien shook his head, eating some more popcorn.

“Who else knew?”

“Everyone, I think. It was so obvious.”

“Well,” Adrien swallowed the popcorn, clearing his throat. “Does she still have a crush on me?”

Alya paushed for a moment to think. “You know, I really don’t know. The stuttering’s completely gone – and she’s been so confident, and she’s also been mentioning Chat Noir – but do feelings really go away?”

Chat Noir? Well, he’d rather date her as Adrien – less complications – but if that didn’t work out…

“Well how do I impress her? I want to make her like me,” Adrien said. “Like, properly like me – as more than friends.”

Alya chuckled softly. “If you did it once, you can do it again. Just keep being you – that’s what she liked before. But make sure to also be a little bit flirty. Smile more, use her name, be touchy… you know?”

“No,” Adrien frowned. “I’ve never flirted before.”

Alya groaned. “Look; I’ll do some asking around for you, okay? See what’s up with Mari on an emotional level. My bet is she still has feelings for you.”

Adrien nodded. “Okay. Thank you, Alya.”

Alya finished the popcorn, crumpling the bag in her hands. “Thanks for trusting me, Adrien. And for providing such a strong source of entertainment.”

* * *

“Hello, everyone! My name is Adrien Agreste, and you’re watching Disney Channel.”

“Boo!” A female voice called from the camera. “More pep! And you have to make the logo, remember!”

Adrien’s smile increased, and he repeated, “and you’re watching Disney Channel!” With a loud voice, before making a circle with a pointed finger.

Marinette popped her head into frame. “That _sucked, _but unfortunately, you are not watching Disney Channel, because although Adrien is, in every sense of the words, a Disney Princess, rights to his face have not yet been bought. So instead,” she held up a large makeup bag, shaking it slightly, “We’re making him into Disney Princesses!”

Adrien frowned. “I thought we were doing anime characters.”

Marinette took a seat next to Adrien, shrugging. “This is more fun. We can do all your makeup, and wear dresses like this!” She smiled. “Provided, very generously, by Chloe Bourgeois.”

Adrien turned to Marinette. “Chloe _let _you do this?”

“She bought all the supplies,” Alya said from behind the camera. “Get on with it!”

“Right, right,” Marinette chuckled. “So, we have five picks. Which one do you want to do first?”

Adrien looked at the list. Elsa (Frozen), Rapunzel (Tangled), Charlotte (The Princess and The Frog)(who isn’t really a princess, but counts nonetheless), Sleeping Beauty (stated) and Alice (Alice in Wonderland) (who also really isn’t a Disney princess, but nobody minds.) “They’re all blonde,” he deduced.

“Well, yeah,” Marinette giggled. “We didn’t want to ask Chloe for wigs, too. Take your pick!”

Adrien couldn’t help but look at her for a second as she laughed. How had he not noticed the adorable freckles on her nose before? And he wanted to see them up close – like when he kissed her-

“Adrien?” Marinette asked. “Are you zoning out? Having a hard time deciding?”

“Rapunzel,” he blurted, cheeks heating slightly at being caught. “Let’s do her first. I don’t know how you’ll make my hair that long, but…”

Marinette smiled. “Oh, I’m just the fashion consultant. _You’ll _be doing all the transformations.”

“Oh,” Adrien said again, this time looking at her lips. He’d felt them before… if only he’d had a little longer-

“Adrien!” Marinette thrust the makeup bag at him. “You have ten minutes for makeup, and then we’ll be putting the dress on. Be quick!”

* * *

_Can they just get married like adrien’s already got the dress mari buy a ring and a suit_

_AGREED I WILL BUY THE SUIT_

_Omg why was elsa so good wtf I didn’t know I needed that until I saw it_

_WHY IS THAT MAN SO GODDAMN BEAUTIFUL WHO GAVE HIM THE RIGHT_

_HE WAS LOOKING AT HER LIPS!!! ???_

_Yesss I saw that he wants to kiss her_

_Are they already dating and trying to hide it or is he just crushing HARD_

_The editing on this video was beautiful but where tf were the wedding bells when Aurore came out_

_Great video!!!_

_Omg the clip on earrings made my LIFE_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That once comment translation: 'the one about the thighs... my english is not very good but i understand!!'
> 
> god damn it adrien just kiss her already svkned
> 
> also i love shading myself sorry for not updating but we got a plan and an end in sight now!
> 
> and leave kudos and comments, they mean the absolute world to me <3


	10. keeping with the times, lunch dates and the eventual plot progression

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A video is made (more than one?). Alya texts Adrien. Adrien and Marinette go out for lunch - and then some.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone!!! i hope you enjoy this chapter <3

“Hello, my name is Adrien Agreste, and we’re in my bedroom! Just, a different part.” He gestures around him with a large grin. “Today,we are not going to be sitting down. I’m actually filming with a close friend of mine who is super talented, but who you guys don’t see that often – Nino Lahiffe!”

Adrien outstretches his arms dramatically, and Nino walks into the frame with a large grin and a wave. “Has anybody ever told you how provocative your intro is?”

Adrien’s smile didn’t waver. “What do you mean?”

“I dunno. The whole ‘we’re in my bedroom’ bit? Kinda suggestive.”

“Nino makes all the music for my videos,” Adrien changed topic quickly, “and he has his own accounts – which will be linked around his face now.” Nino did a little thumbs up, before pointing around his face. “And today, he will be teaching me something very important. How to do a tiktok dance.”

Nino chuckled. “My dudes, Adrien isn’t just learning one dance – he’s learning _five.”_

“Yeah, which is unfortunate, because I can’t dance,” Adrien grumbled. Nino laughed, shaking his head and opening up his phone.

“Alright,” Nino began. “We’re starting pretty easy – watch this a few times, and then we’ll try it.”

* * *

Adrien had a lunch date with Mari. It wasn’t a date-date (unfortunately), but it wasn’t the first lunch he’d had with her, one-on-one before either.

But when she’d shown up at his door, in a cute yellow sundress, he could have sworn that his heart stopped. He’d barely been able to mumble out a greeting, and as she took his arm and walked them both all the way to the café, chattering on happily with Adrien’s subpar, monosyllabic answers, it hadn’t restarted.

Ten minutes later, sitting in the middle of the restaurant, opposite Marinette, who was leafing through the menu, humming softly, it was still as frozen as it had been.

She looked incredible. If she had made the dress herself, the talent shone through almost as much as her beauty. If she hadn’t… the fashion Gods were shining light upon him and him only today.

Her hair was down. If he had water, he’d have choked.

She looked up at him through thick lashes, and he was stunned yet again into silence by her bluebell eyes. “I think I’ll go for the salmon,” she said decisively, in such a way that it did things to his insides. “Alya came here with Nino, and she said it was good. But the mushroom soup sounds really good, too… What do you think?”

Adrien blinked. “Salmon,” he blurted. “I think it… sounds better.”

Marinette nodded as if she understood, even though Adrien’s bullshit was palpable. He hadn’t even glanced at his open menu yet. Wait. Had she noticed? Did she think he was a creep for just staring at her? How long had he been staring? She’d get a restraining order, and then they’d never get to-

“What are you getting?” Marinette asked, eyes dropping back to the menu. “Anything that would go well with some wine?”

“I thought you didn’t like wine,” Adrien said, heart calming slightly as he pressed each word out. He needed to be able to hear her – to hear her asking for the restraining order.

She shrugged. “I’m eighteen. I feel like being a grown up.”

“Then have a beer.”

Her eyes met his, widened with mock-surprise. “It’s one in the afternoon. I can’t have a _beer.”_

“But you can have wine?” He teased. She chuckled at that, eyes dropping to the menu again.

“Touche, Agreste. You got me there.”

With a triumphant smile, Adrien decided to scan the menu quickly for something to eat. Maybe he’d get the prawn dish…

The waiter arrived, and Marinette ordered first. Adrien’s phone buzzed slightly in his pocket, and he vaguely registered Marinette ordering tap water for the both of them.

The text was from Alya. Without even thinking, he turned his phone off in a panic. That conversation they’d had – regarding his not-so-platonic feelings towards Marinette – sent his heart into a spiral of panic again. But now the waiter was talking to him, and he couldn’t re-open the text, so he had to _wait._

Agony. Adrien spoke his order to the waiter faster than he’d ever spoken before, and yet every moment was pure agony.

When the waiter took the menus, Adrien was already on his phone, opening the text.

**AC: I know you’re with Mari so how good is ur poker face.**

**AA: Like a 6??? I’m a model so I think I’m good.**

**AC: Ok. Don’t freak. 99% sure mari still likes u. Go GET HER!!!!**

A sigh of relief left his body, followed very quickly by an apparent intake of heat.

Marinette liked him. More than friends. Probably. It wasn’t certain, right?

But if they both liked each other romantically… could this be called a date?

“Who’s the text from?” Marinette asked with a sweet smile. Adrien’s eyes jumped back up to hers, and he shut the phone off quickly.

“Nobody,” he said. What was he supposed to say instead? ‘Your best friend told me you had feelings for me, I _definitely _have feelings for you, please don’t get a restraining order-‘

“Do you have a secret girlfriend?” Marinette’s jaw dropped, but the glimmer of humour remained in her eyes. Adrien’s eyebrows drew together.

“What- No- I don’t- What?” He sputtered, shaking his head. “No secret girlfriend. I am totally single.”

“Oh my god,” she sat back in her chair. “You are totally dating somebody.”

Adrien shook his head again. “You’re wrong,” he said, “because I’m single.”

Marinette grinned. “Then who was the text from? Who’s got you blushing like that? Is it a crush?”

“…Kind of.”

Marinette gasped, clapping her hands excitedly. “Spill!” She said excitedly. “Who is it? Do I know them?” She paused. “Are you getting back with Kagami?”

“Am I- no, Mari! We’re just friends.”

She shrugged. “You know what they say… people always love their exes for ages. If not Kagami, then who?”

Adrien shrugged awkwardly. Marinette’s anticipation morphed into understanding, and she nodded.

“If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.” She said, before the glint returned. “I’ll just know in my heart that you have a secret girlfriend.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend!” He said loudly. The chatter of everyone else in the restaurant, though, stopped right at the moment he said it, and after he’d finished, the room was engulfed in a very awkward silence. Marinette, sitting across from him, was fighting to keep giggles at bay.

If he wasn’t crimson before, he sure as hell was now. Could this get any worse?

Chatter resumed, slowly, and the waiter brought over their food. Marinette thanked him, and Adrien did the same, before digging in.

He watched as Marinette cut into her salmon, eating slowly. How did she manage to make even _that _look graceful and perfect?

She met his eye. “You’re staring at me,” she chuckled. “What is it? Do you want a piece?”

Adrien moved to deny, but she’d already put a piece of her meal onto her fork, and was holding out to him. “Open wide,” she teased. He couldn’t do anything other than obey, and suddenly he had her fork in his mouth.

Was this, technically, an indirect kiss? How many indirect kisses had the two of them shared before? Was he a creep for thinking about this? Creepy enough for her to get a-

“Good?” Marinette asked, eating another bite of her food. Adrien forced himself to swallow, nodding. “Yeah, I like it too. How’s yours?”

“Want a taste?” He asked, with all the courage he had in his body. Marinette actually seemed shocked for a second, before she opened her mouth expectantly.

Adrien’s brain was filled with a rush of images that would _definitely _label him as a creep. Trying not to let his cheeks reheat to their original embarrassment level, he made her a bite, and handed it over.

She chewed, shooting him an excited thumbs up. “Yours is really good too!” She said excitedly.

Gods, she was so cute. He was in for a lot of trouble.

* * *

Although their lunch date didn’t really count as a ‘date-date’, Adrien still felt a certain responsibility that entailed walking Marinette back to the bakery. It wasn’t late – they did go out for _lunch – _but Adrien still found himself acting protective of her, scanning people as they walked past, and staying somewhat on edge.

The walk was, once again, filled with light chatter that was considerably easier now that Adrien was slightly used to Marinette in _that _sundress – and wasn’t thinking about it every step of the way. In fact, the being-on-edge was a great excuse to take a mind off of Marinette, who was standing just close enough that every couple of steps their fingers brushed.

If he took her hand, would she be weirded out? Would she want to hold his hand? Did she want to hold his hand right now? Was she currently thinking about holding his hand, even though she was able to coherently hold up a conversation?

But they reached the bakery quickly, and Marinette turned back with a smile. “You really didn’t have to walk me,” she chuckled, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. _Hey. Maybe he could find an excuse to get her to wear her hair down in a video. Then he’d be able to immortalise the image-_

“It’s no problem,” he said, suddenly, realizing he hadn’t responded. “I enjoyed it. I enjoyed lunch, too.”

Marinette’s lips turned upwards, and she nodded in agreement. “It was fun. We should do it again.”

“Yeah.”

For a moment, they held each other’s eyes. Gods, Adrien had really though his favourite colour was green – but if he kept looking at her-

“Right, well, I should get inside,” Marinette broke eye contact, and Adrien felt the loss in his chest. “You’ve probably got a bunch of stuff to do, and so do I, so-“

“Right, right,” Adrien said as if he understood. Well, it wasn’t like he _didn’t _understand – he would just rather put off all his important stuff to spend the rest of the afternoon with her. Maybe he could visit as Chat. Maybe they could FaceTime later. “Well then… I’ll see you?”

Marinette chuckled slightly. “You don’t have to tell me what’s up,” she began, a hand landing on his shoulder and rubbing gently, “but you need to loosen up a bit. You’ve been tense all afternoon. Is something wrong?”

Of course. Of course Marinette, the most kind-hearted, intuitive person he knew, would notice that he was acting strange. “It’s nothing,” he said, the words sounding stiff even to him. “Well, it’s- I don’t know.”

Her hand on his shoulder felt like it was burning him through his clothes, but he didn’t want it to go away. He kind of liked it. “I get it,” she said. “Maybe we could talk about it? When you’re ready?”

Despite the irony of the situation, Adrien found his heart swelling. “You really are the best, Marinette,” he said as a confirmation, placing his hand on top of hers. Marinette’s lips dropped open slightly, and a flush began crawling up her neck.

“I- I should go,” she said, drawing her hand back sharply and once again breaking eye contact. “Homework,” she mumbled. “See you, Adrien!”

She turned to leave, but the feel of her hand under his, and the memory of her blush, was burned into his mind. “Wait!” He said, loder than intended, considering she was still only a couple of feet away from him.

Marinette turned, slowly, eyes wide, cheeks still flushed a gorgeous pink colour. “Go out with me!” Adrien said.

The flush intensified, but Adrien was sure the heat in his cheeks was building fast enough to rival hers. “Wait- that’s not what- I- Would you like to go out with me?”

It took all the strength in him to keep his eyes level with hers, searching for an answer. He was hoping – _praying _– that Alya hadn’t played some sick joke, and that Marinette might actually like him back.

Marinette turned so her entire body was facing him. “Okay,” she said, softly.

Adrien just stood, for a moment. “Okay?”

“Yeah,” she smiled. “I’d like that.”

“Me too.”

That prompted a giggle from Marinette, and Adrien felt like his heart was about to beat straight out of his chest and into her hands. “Okay,” she said softly, turning back to the door.

“Okay,” he responded.

“See you tomorrow?”

He nodded, and with a parting wave, she disappeared behind the door.

Adrien took the walk back to the mansion as a chance to cool his face, but if anybody saw his victory dancing, he didn’t mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> he really went for it like some anime confession,,, this boi has 0 experience and it shows
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed!!!!


	11. patrols, dates, and an introduction to the twitter scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat Noir patrol (and talk.) Adrien gets ready for - and goes on - a date. The video, and the date, stirrs up some trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here u go i have no clue what im doing but apparently there's a twitter scene now lol

The Parisian air was always colder the higher up they got, but that was a fact Chat Noir always seemed to forget. He didn’t mind it – with the miraculous, he was practically a human heater, and his metabolism as a civilian wasn’t anything to frown at, either. But Ladybug had begun bringing blankets to the rooftops they’d marked out years ago as patrol hotspots, because apparently she got cold super easily – so heights weren’t really her thing.

So, he’d bought several space heaters, many pillows, a few foldable chairs, and created a base for them; where they could ‘patrol’, because if they stepped out of their fort-of-sorts, they could see over a large chunk of Paris, but they could remain inside, warm and comfortable, when there was no action.

Tonight was one of those nights. They’d done a precautionary run around a few blocks, checking all the back alleys, and the bars, for anybody that might be feeling like committing a crime. But after they’d got their all clear, with fifty minutes left of patrol, they’d retreated to home base.

Ladybug looked super cute wrapped in several blankets; Chat Noir _never _forgot this fact.

“Hey,” she said, after she’d situated herself in a chair, with enough blankets to keep her warm. “Did you ever ask Adrien Agreste out?”

Chat seemed to choke on air, and had to place a hand to his chest as he coughed. “What?” He asked, his voice hoarse from the over-exertion.

Ladybug looked so small from under all her blankets, but her eyebrows were drawn into a concerned arch. “Adrien? That YouTuber you liked. Did you ever visit him?”

“I don’t-“ Chat cleared his throat, taking the time to inhale. “I didn’t have a crush on Adrien Agreste.”

“Really?” Ladybug asked, shifting in the chair. “Oh, wait. It was Marinette, wasn’t it? The girl that always shows up in his videos?”

Chat felt heat that was not welcome light up his face, and he looked at the ground. Usually one of them – mostly him, so she wouldn’t have to give up her blankets – would check outside the snug every time they heard a noise, or every ten minutes. He couldn’t use the ten minutes excuse, but why weren’t there any noises?

“I didn’t ask her out,” he said. “I don’t like her… like that.”

Ladybug frowned, as if she didn’t believe him. “So you just visit her as Chat Noir because she’s a friend? You don’t do that with anybody else.”

Chat shook his head. “She’s a… close friend. And she gives me food.”

He watched as Ladybug’s frown deepened, as if she were trying to figure out a really hard puzzle. That, and the blankets, was really adorable. He wanted to grab his baton and take a photo.

He wondered if Marinette would look that cute, swaddled in blankets. Did Marinette get cold? Maybe he could buy her a blanket, or two… A pink one – that was her favourite colour, right?

“So you visit her because she gives you food?” Ladybug questioned. Chat found himself shaking his head.

“She listens,” he said, as a weird way of explaining things. “And… I don’t know. She’s a really close friend.”

Ladybug’s frown didn’t ease – which was fair, considering Chat’s answer didn’t really answer anything. “Why did you bring it up, anyway?”

“I was walking, as a civilian,” Ladybug began, “and I saw a photo of those two together, on a lunch date.” Ladybug’s cheeks were beginning to tint pink, probably with the heat from the heater. It was getting pretty toasty in their little hideout. “I think they’re boyfriend and girlfriend now.”

“Boyfriend and girlfriend?” Chat asked with a grin. “What are you, twelve?”

Ladybug outstretched an arm from the mass of blankets to hit his shoulder. He winced, good-heartedly, but the grin only widened. “Stupid cat,” she mumbled. “I just didn’t want to say ‘date’ twice.”

“Why?” Chat teased. “Are you jealous?”

Ladybug snorted at that – which was _not _the reaction Chat was expecting. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m not jealous – I have everything I want.”

Chat’s grin softened at that. “Really?” He asked. “Is it because you have a gorgeous male specimen sitting besides you?” He adjusted in his chair, leaning forwards and flexing his biceps. “Because he is happy to be with you, too. So happy, in fact, that he could show you-“

Ladybug slapped his arm again, chuckling softly. “You flirt,” she sighed. “So, if you’re not crushing on Adrien, or Marinette, who are you crushing on?”

“You don’t have any problems saying ‘crush’ twice,” Adrien noted. “And you, My Lady. As always.”

Ladybug paused for a second, before nodding, hr chin disappearing behind the blankets. “Right. I forgot about that.”

Chat chuckled softly. “Are you warm enough?”

“Toasty,” she responded. “I think I’ll just go to bed. You can finish patrol by yourself.”

Chat shrugged. “You know, Hawkmoth’s been pretty quiet. If you’re cold, and tired, we could probably just go home.”

Ladybug thought about it for a second, before shaking her head. “We have a duty to the people,” she said seriously, which was funny because she looked like a walking ball of fluff. “And I don’t want to move yet.”

Adrien reached for a spare blanket, positioning it around his shoulders, more for comfort than for warmth. “Hawkmoth has been quiet, though,” he said, somewhat to himself. “Do you think he’s stopping?”

Ladybug shrugged – or, he assumed she did from the general movements of the blankets. “I’d like to hope so,” she sighed, “but I really doubt it.”

“Me too.” Chat foddled with the label on the blanket. “Maybe we could-“

A loud crash from outside the tent caused the two to jump up, shrugging off their respective blankets and exiting the fort. “It’s the giant baby,” Ladybug said with a half amused laugh. “You totally jinxed it.”

“Oh, I jinxed it?” Chat asked as the two began making their way over rooftops towards the Akuma. “You’re the one who said you didn’t think he was finished.”

“You’re the one who brought it up!”

“You responded!”

* * *

He had a date. A real, genuine date. His first date.

And he didn’t know what to wear. Wasn’t that so clichéd?

Adrien had spent five minutes leafing through his closet – his, unfortunately, very _extensive _closet – and had come up with nothing. He didn’t want to wear what he wore on a daily basis. He wanted to look good. For her. _Like _her.

Making a split second decision, Adrien positioned his camera in the centre of his room, turned on his lights and pressed record. “Hey,” he started, “my name is Adrien Agreste, and we’re in my bedroom!” He gestured around himself. “Just a different angle. Today, as you’ve probably gathered by the video title, I am going to be trying on everything in my closet.” He continued with the introduction, hoping the fact that he was rushing didn’t come off to his audience. He still had two or three hours until the date, which he hoped was long enough. Not even pausing the recording (and knowing he was going to regret it with the amount of footage he had to cut down later), he rushed into his closet.

He decided on a pair of dressy jeans quickly – that he looked good in, but could still walk around Paris with, and was soon switching out tops, modelling them for a few seconds before he ripped it off and moved onto the next.

It was almost at the end of his supply that he found the perfect one. He modelled it for a few seconds, before looking at himself in the viewfinder.

“I hope she likes it,” he mumbled to himself, before he began the outro. He had to do it a few times, because the rushing made him fall over his words, but eventually he finished, turning off the camera, grabbing his phone and keys, and rushing out the door.

Marinette was waiting for him outside the bakery, and as he called out to her, he could’ve sworn his heart stopped beating at the smile that graced her features the moment she saw him. “Hey, Adrien,” she said, smiling. “You look good.”

“So do you,” he said. “Wow.”

She pushed his shoulder gently, smiling. “Flatterer. Did you bring sunglasses?”

He nodded, and the two of them simultaneously pulled out large, unflattering sunglasses, putting them on. “Everything’s so dark,” Marinette commented. “And you look like a dork.”

“But not a celebrity dork,” he commented, taking her hand and trying to ignore the flurry of warm butterflies it provoked in his stomach. “Let’s go. I’ve been looking forwards to ice cream all day.”

Andre, as Marinette predicted, offered for them to share an ice cream – peppermint, strawberry and blackcurrant. They walked, hand in hand, Adrien’s other hand holding the ice cream for them, down the seine, making light, enjoyable conversation. They talked about life – what they wanted from the future, down to the smallest details (Marinette wanted a hamster, but only after university.) And then they ended up talking about designs – and her face lit up in the way he’d seen so many times, but would die to see just once more.

Several hours, and several stops on benches because of sore feet, later, the date seemed to be coming to a natural close. “I enjoyed this,” Marinette said earnestly. “We should do it again.”

“We should!” He agreed a little too fast, and suddenly he was wishing he could cover his face.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Marinette bent her head slightly to catch his eye, offering him a smile. “It’s cute. I really had fun, Adrien.”

Adrien nodded, looking out onto the river. “Are we dating?” He asked. “Because I know we’re trying to hide whatever this is from the tabloids – but just for us…”

“I’d like to be if you’d like to be,” Marinette said. “I mean, if it’s like that every time…”

Adrien chuckled. “I don’t think we should tell my fans, though.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, squeezing his hand softly. “Maybe we could tell them later? I mean, some of them have the investigative skills of a supercomputer.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” he agreed. “Let me walk you home?”

Marinette shook her head. “You’re always walking me home – let me walk _you _home, for a change.”

Adrien blushed, letting out a short, bashful laugh. “Okay,” he said. “Any excuse to get these sunglasses off faster.”

Adrien got home, and spent a few hours editing his footage from earlier. He hadn’t realized it at the time, but tomorrow was upload day, and he hadn’t had anything to put up.

So, at midnight, he posted the video, and went to sleep – not witnessing the storm it caused.

* * *

_Holy shit did anyone catch the ‘I hope she likes it’ BOI IS HE GOING ON A DATE_

_Kdhfeldj ‘trying on my entire wardrobe for one date’ why is it such a MOOD_

_Adrien is Baby. I make the rules._

_HE LOOKED SO EXCITED WHEN HE FOUND THAT TOP THO IT’S SO CUTE_

_Ok but like are we not going to talk about the ‘formal wear’ section because hot damn_

_Adrien Agreste has doc martens send TWEET this BISEXUAL ENERGY_

_Oh my goddddd he’s going on a date_

_Y’ALL CHECK TWITTER APPARENTLY ADRIEN AND MARI WERE SPOTTED WALKING AROUND PARIS HOLDING HANDS WERE THEY ON A DATE_

_YEAH AND HE WAS WEARING THIS OUTFIT_

_SKDHVFDK ADRIENETTE IS TRENDING_

* * *

_Trending _ **· France**

**#Adrienette**

209,000 Tweets

**#AdrienAgreste**

174,000 Tweets

** _\- - -_ **

** **

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

**#Adrinette **fandom rise up we have finally got some justice

236 Retweets 1.2k Likes 104 Comments

**crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS SHIT THOSE GLASSES WERE UGLY AF

**His ARMS @justastan**

Bro,,,, they thought they were being so subtle tho

** _\- - -_ **

** **

**His ARMS @justastan**

Ffs,,, imagine stanning adrien Agreste for all of 5 minutes and getting pulled into this shit in his fandom,,,,,,, cant relate

1.1k Retweets 3.6k Likes 7.1k Comments

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

Connie she talking bout u boo

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

I hate everyone and hereby resign as #adrienette manager

** crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

WAIT NO BITCH COME BACK

** _\- - -_ **

**crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

OH MY GOD I JUST SAW ADRIEN IN THE STREETS TF HE WASN’T WITH MARINETTE???? THIS BOI

[vid: a shaky, 5 second clip of someone who looks like Adrien Agreste walking past a store front]

4.9k Retweets 7.1k Likes 364 Comments

** _\- - -_ **

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

#Adrienette fandom rise up I need a new vice prez

161 Retweets 2.6k Likes 592 Comments

**crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

damn u rlly picked a good time for business

** his ARMS @justastan**

BITCH I APOLOGISED

** _\- - -_ **

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

Hey y’all 12y/o’s u can love adrien all u want but can u gtfo my twitter page adrien ain’t gonna fall in love with u when mari is RIGHT THERE

9.4k Retweets 23.8k Likes 3.1k Comments

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

Stating facts left and right

**His ARMS @justastan**

Noooo like I hate the harassment but lowkey the honest belief that they’ll marry him is pretty fucking funny

**crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

if ur mad about the 12 year olds go to bed bitch it’s 3am and they’ll be at school tomorrow

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

It isn’t our fault h released a vid at midnight but go fish I fuckin guess

** His ARMS @justastan**

Bro do u even know what go fish means sofjnemdkfijen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope u enjoyed!!! don't forget to leave kudos and/or comments!!!
> 
> also why is twitter so fun to write ngl maybe i'll fuck around and make an entire twitter au ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	12. when social media blows up in your face - positively

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien sees the dilemna he's caused - and has a talk with his father. Kagami helps him figure out a solution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fhdn i love writing this fic i rlly hope u guys like reading it

He didn’t really know what he was expecting when he woke up, but it was not Nathalie shaking his arm with semi-urgency (which was much more urgency than was welcome this early in the morning), demanding that he got ready to have breakfast with his father. Not just ‘breakfast’ – which is what Nathalie had resorted to after Adrien pointed out the fact that every day breakfast with his father was pencilled in on the schedule, and yet his father never showed up. But no, this was proper breakfast, which meant sitting down and having a (usually unpleasant) chat with his father.

And that meant that either something was wrong, or something was very, very good. And, as far as Adrien heard, his mother hadn’t miraculously shown up on their doorstep last night – which meant it was probably the former.

In between the showering, brushing teeth, styling hair and getting dressed, Adrien managed to check his phone – hoping for an answer. What he got instead, when he opened twitter, was th wonderful shock that his name was trending. In France, and in America.

He managed to get a vague idea from the first few tweets on his feed – people were going insane because he’d left the part addressing Marinette in his video, and people had (correctly) speculated that he was going on a date with her.

But that was fine – no emergency, right? He was within all the right rules. He was just going on a date with a girl he liked; a girl his father had met, and hadn’t immediately disapproved of, no less.

The moment Adrien came down the stairs, all those thoughts fled his brain. His father looked more sterm than usual – shoulders tense, although his posture was perfect, as always. His forehead held a smattering of wrinkles that only showed up during times of stress, that Adrien knew he was this close to getting botox to remove. What was even worse, though, was that Gabriel turned around when Adrien made a noise coming into the room.

His father never turned around. In fact, he preferred not to acknowledge Adrien was even in the same room.

“Father,” he greeted, trying to maintain his composure, even as he felt his father’s glance biting into him every step to his seat. “You wanted to discuss something?”

“Yes,” Gabriel said, hand brushing to the side, where a pile of magazines – mostly tabloids – were placed. “You were in the news.”

Adrien fought a wry smirk. “Am I not often in the news, father?”

“You know that is not what I meant,” Gabriel frowned. “They all say you are dating this girl – Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Adrien nodded, taking a bite of the food in front of him. “Yes?” He prompted.

“Well,” Gabriel sighed in annoyance, which Adrien tried not to let sting, “is it true?”

“That I’m dating her?” Adrien picked up his glass of water, taking a short sip. “Well, yes. We have agreed to go on a couple of dates. Nothing official, yet.”

His father’s frown deepened, as did the wrinkles. “I do not recall permitting you to date this girl, Adrien?”

He couldn’t help it – a disbelieving scoff came out, and he placed his cutlery down. “Does everything I do have to be approved by you?”

“Yes,” Gabriel said casually, leafing through the second magazine. “I am your father.”

Adrien shook his head. “I tried to be subtle about it, but the media caught wind. It is not doing you any harm – the traffic surrounding my name surely benefits you! So what’s the problem?”

Gabriel looked up, and his eyes, usually a cool grey, were hard as steel. “By dating this girl behind my back, you are disrespecting me.”

“It’s not like you’re ever here for me to talk to you!” Adrien said. “Marinette is kind, and honest, and not using me for my fame. I will continue to date her, on my own terms.”

Gabriel pursed his lips, placing the magazine down. “I assume it was this Marinette girl’s influence that has caused you to start talking back?”

“No,” Adrien said. “Just defending myself.”

“Do you even know what people are saying?” Gabriel asked. “What the professionals – my colleagues – are calling you? First, you come out as gay-“

“Bi,” Adrien corrected, not bothering to conceal the bite in his voice.

“-and then suddenly you’re dating a girl? They think you’re a foolish, immature child who can’t make up his mind.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “I know exactly what I am doing, father. I am dating Marinette because I like her, and I enjoy her company. I never said I was gay – bisexuals are attracted to both, so I’m not breaking any ‘rules’, which you would know, if you had bothered to ask.”

The fury in his father’s eyes wasn’t something he saw often – but it came to a head as he stood. “The public may be treating you well at the moment, but the _second _this turns sour, you are to break it off with her!” He demanded, voice booming through the empty corridors. “Whether you like it or not.”

Adrien remained silent for a second, just glaring. He’d never been so defiant – but it was like being around Marinette had opened up this well in his chest that he didn’t know existed, and now he knew his father was so much worse than he had originally thought.

“Nathalie,” Gabriel called. Nathalie came through the closed door, clutching her notepad as usual. “Take Adrien’s food and dispose of it, please. He needs some time to think – and he can do that on an empty stomach.”

Emotionless as usual, Nathalie took the tray, exiting the room. “Leave,” Gabriel said coldly. “And I would advise you do not go against my wishes again.”

Adrien stood up, the chair screeching against the floor, and practically stormed out, full of this anger he didn’t know he had. It paled in comparison to most things he’d felt as Adrien before, and rivalled the anger he felt as Chat Noir when Ladybug took an especially horrible hit.

His stomach rumbled, and he checked the time. Almost 7 – which left him three hours until fencing, and six at least until lunch. Maybe Kagami could bring him something.

Maybe she could offer some advice.

* * *

Kagami came with two croissants and an offer to listen to anything Adrien wanted to say, if he wanted to talk. At the beginning of the class, he didn’t, really – the anger had been simmering for three hours, except those hours were spent practicing piano, then ‘practicing piano’ whilst he scrolled through his phone – and then being reminded of the whole fiasco, and wanting to punch something. Fencing was good for that aspect; if Adrien had showed his extra fury through a slightly-too-hard jab, or a stomp into the floor when he moved, she didn’t comment on it.

Weirdly enough, in the last half-hour of their class, when the one-on-one fights began so all the students could observe each other’s techniques and learn from them was when Adrien finally felt like opening up. He explained the whole situation – from the decision to make the video, to the date, to the editing (which was _not _a mistake – in fact, he’d left it in because he really thought it was subtle, and too quiet for anyone to really hear. He’d be more careful next time.) and then to the storm he’d woken up to, both on his social media and in his household.

When he’d finally finished, Kagami didn’t look outraged on his behalf (which he hadn’t really expected, because she didn’t often show her emotions, but still.) In fact, she really just looked confused.

“Adrien,” she said, “you are an idiot.”

He’d spluttered – understandably – at that. What did she mean? Was his anger misplaced? Was he in the wrong? Or was he just missing something really, really big?

“Have you ever signed a work contract with _Gabriel?” _Kagami asked casually. Adrien shook his head. “Then you owe that company, and therefore your father, nothing.”

“But I’m his son,” he said with a frown. “He can make me; he does.”

“You’re eighteen,” she said. “Just move out. Even if he completely cuts you off – which he probably won’t because the publicity would be _terrible – _with that YouTube thing of yours you make more than enough money. He has no legal claim over you – you’re an adult.”

Adrien paused, eyes drifting to the floor. “Oh my god,” he said quietly, and then slightly louder, “Kagami, you are a _genius.”_

The girl shrugged. “I have been told that,” she said with a small smile. “I’m right though, right? You can afford your own place?”

Adrien nodded. “I could even make a video out of it – going apartment shopping! And everyone can come along, and it’ll be fun, and-“

The fight finished, and Adrien and Kagami clapped politely as the two fencers took their seats. “Don’y get carried away,” Kagami said subtly. “I don’t know what your father is capable of, but you probably don’t want him knowing about your moving until you’re already gone.”

“I’ll post it after I’m out. Oh, and Kagami,” Adrien turned in his seat, taking her hands into his own. “I love you,” he said sincerely, looking deep into her eyes with an earnest of a gaze as he could manage.

He watched as she rolled her own. “Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Do’t lay it on thick. We’re fighting soon – be prepared to lose.”

* * *

“Hello, my name is Adrien Agreste, and I am not in my bedroom!” Adrien grinned at the small vlogging camera, spinning slightly to show off his background. “Actually, I am not in my house at all; which you probably know because of the video title. But today I’m going house shopping!”

“Apartment shopping,” Marinette corrected from behind him. “This doofus doesn’t want a house.”

“Because there are barely any houses in the centre of Paris,” Adrien complained, “and all of them are super expensive, super gross, or both. And apartments are just… nicer.”

Nino, who lived in an apartment, made a face in the background. “Just wait,” he chuckled.

“Anyway,” Adrien sighed. “We’re outside the first place, because my appointment-thing starts in fifteen minutes. With me I have my dream team of house experts; Mari,” she waved, “Alya,” who have a thumbs u, “Nino,” who grinned, “and Kagami – who you guys actually haven’t met yet. Kagami is super nice; maybe she’ll agree to be in another video with me, later.”

“Unlikely,” said Kagami in the background, followed by a laugh from Marinette.

“Anyway,” Adrien sighed, “I don’t think I’ll be allowed to film in all of these places – or at least some of them – so we’ll do a brief introduction, and then an overview of each place. And, by the time this video goes up, I’ll have moved in!”

Marinette came closer, linking her arm with Adrien’s free one and smiling at the camera. “And I will be your chief interior decorator,” she said to him. “I’m not letting you paint the place black.”

“Please,” he chuckled. “I’d paint it green.”

She made a face. “You guys are stanning a weirdo,” she said straight to the camera. “Now turn it off; we can probably just go in now.”

* * *

_THE ADRIENETTE IS STRONG GUYS  
_

_oh my goddd im the first comment the last time i was this early was at my birth_

_Kagami as in kagami tsuguri??? Wodfihfr adrien rlly only surrounds himself with the elite huh_

_YES LITERALLY ALL OF HIS FRIENDS ARE FAMOUS IN THEIR OWN WAYS_

_The vibe of this friendship group is the absolute best thing and you cannot convince me otherwise_

_Wait he’s moving out???? Haha that was sudden_

_^^^and weird for a newly 18 year old like his mansion is totally fine_

_Maybe he wanted independence???_

_Adrien’s rlly stopped doing all the modelling & stuff for his father,,, do u think that’s why he moved out???_

_SUPER CUTE VID <3_

_I hope he’s ok, with him moving out and stuff_

_ADRIEN BBY R THINGS OK AT HOME_

_If things are bad at least he’s out now right???_

_WE LOVE U <3_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god damn gabriel is such a douche but yayyy we finally see kagami properly!!! also, I'm sure once that video aired, Chloe had a lot to say about not being invited haha
> 
> leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed!!! <3


	13. bowling, dating, discussions and happy endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette go on another date. They meet a fan, and make a milestone in their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, consuming fan content every day: sweet  
also me, realizing i have a responsibility to finish making _my_ fan content: not sweet
> 
> with that said, here is the new chapter!!!

In Marinette’s parents bakery, there wasn’t really much room to pace about – but Adrien was making do. At first, he’d settled for a rapid foot-tap, which was alright because it could be both hidden under a table, and he could do it whilst sitting out of the way of the horde of customers that were currently being served. But then he started getting annoyed looks because he was occupying a table and wasn’t eating anything, so he stood and began to tap his foot.

Except, apparently if you tap your foot too hard, you lose you balance – which Adrien found out the hard way. So now he had resorted to a two-step pace, as the customers began to dwindle after the lunchtime rush.

He’d been greeted, of course, with a smile from Tom, who came out every now and again to oversee the employees. He’d offered for Adrien to come in and wait upstairs, but Adrien had declined, more out of a sense of obligation than actually not wanting to spend time with the Dupain-Chengs.

In hindsight, he probably should have just waited outside the bakery’s back entrance, and texted Marinette to let her know he was there – but now Tom had seen him, it would be weird to leave and Marinette’s parents would definitely catch on to the fact that he was there for Marinette and felt awkward spending time with them without her.

He’d texted Marinette a total of eight times (which he totally should not have done, except he was freaking out, and she knew that he did this and had asked him to always text her when it was happening so that even if she wasn’t there with him, he could get his feelings out.) Eight was enough, even as he felt his fingers itching to pull out his phone.

The person at the till hadn’t stopped gawking at him since he walked in. He knew, because every time he looked up from his phone, she shut her jaw and pretended to do something; which, mostly worked, but every time she wasn’t with a customer, was hard to fake. Out of politeness or awkwardness, he decided it would just be better to look at his phone.

The last video he’d uploaded – him trying to do makeup, whilst answering questions. The base was pretty decent – he’d had makeup put on him almost every day for the past fifteen years, after all. But when he started getting to the fancy stuff (namely, eyeliner) was where he fell short. It had received a huge surge of memes being made out of his face, which he didn’t mind – and the comments were largely positive.

_Oh my goddd he is so cute I want to die_

_DID U SEE HIM LOOKING AT THE EYEBROW PENCIL THO LIKE ‘I THOUGHT I ALREADY DID EYELINER’ HONEY NOOOOO_

_Jfhdj where’s ur girlfriend_

_Did y’all hear his bones crack when he reached for that blush tho like boi ur 18 r u ok???_

_Why is he still so FINEEE_

_Beautiful video as always!!!! _

_Ughhh I love him so much_

“Adrien!”

He looked up, to see Marinette coming from behind the counter, and he pocketed his phone, outstretching his arms and letting her sink into a hug. “Hey,” he said, unable to stop the smile from coming to his lips.

She pulled back, and Adrien took a second to appreciate her beauty. The light coming through the wide windows made her squint her eyes slightly, but it lit up her blue irises into a sea of ice. Her smile, even brighter, seemed to cut through him – but like, in a good way. And she was wearing the same pair of jeans that she’d worn on her birthday; very tight, and _very _flattering.

“You look incredible,” he said honestly. A blush lit up her cheeks, and she looked down bashfully, taking his hand.

“Thank you. You look really good, too.” She said, squeezing his hand lightly. Adrien was hit with the intense urge to kiss her. He’d been feeling that urge a lot recently, except every time he felt it, they were either in public (and they’d agreed to keep their relationship a ‘secret’) or the thoughts drifted to the kiss they’d technically had whilst he was Chat.

The kiss she didn’t remember. So, technically, in her eyes, they hadn’t kissed at all… yet.

“Let’s go,” he said, pulling her hand out of the bakery and into the street. “We’ve got bowling booked for 3, and then a walk around the park, if the weather’s nice?”

Besides him, Marinette nodded. “That sounds wonderful.”

The bowling place wasn’t too busy, and they got a lane near the end, so that people wouldn’t look at them. Adrien had paid for 2 games, and Marinette was going first.

He knew, right from the get-go, the moment she bent over to grab a bowling ball, that he was done for. Was it those jeans, or was it just that he had the most beautiful girlfriend in the history of the world?

He put up a good fight – got a few spares, and decent scores overall, but besides the obvious distract-factor, Marinette was apparently incredible at bowling. And after two losses, both of which he didn’t really feel sour about (he was getting his own wins) they bought milkshakes, donned their horrible sunglasses and began the walk to the park.

Conversation, although varied, came easily. They had a long debate about whether or not liking banana milkshakes meant liking bananas (hint: it didn’t), and then another on whether peanut butter was better crunchy or not. Somewhere along the slow stroll, they finished their milkshakes, and ‘just to keep their hands warm’, decided to link their fingers.

Eventually, though, they ran into a fan. A young girl – fifteen, maybe? – with the widest eyes Adrien thought he had ever seen on a person. “Oh my god,” she began, “are you Adrien Agreste?”

Adrien removed his sunglasses (because obviously, they weren’t working very well as a disguise) and nodded. “I am. Are you a fan?”

The girl nodded enthusiastically. “Oh my god, I love your videos so much,” she gushed. “Can I have your autograph?”

He nodded, and the girl pulled out a pen and a notepad. “Wait, are you Marinette?” She asked.

Behind him, Marinette chuckled. “Yeah.”

“Can I have your autograph too?”

Adrien finished signing to catch Marinette’s long, startled blink at the question. “Uhh… sure,” she said. “Nobody’s ever asked me for my autograph before. Apart from this dork,” she said, elbowing Adrien softly.

Adrien rolled his eyes, passing the notebook over for her to sign, too. “But you’re so talented,” she continued. “Like, I followed you after watching one of your Instagram videos, because it’s insane, all the stuff you can do.”

“Thank you,” Marinette smiled.

“Wait,” said the fan. “Are you two on a date?”

Adrien looked to Marinette, who looked to him. He shrugged, letting a questioning grin slip through.

“I guess the entire internet already knows, huh,” Marinette sighed, handing the notepad back to the girl. “Yeah. We’re dating.”

The girl’s jaw dropped, and gave way to a smile that rivalled the sun. “That’s awesome! I mean, it was a theory, but you two are so cute together! Thank you for the autograph! And thank you so much for all your videos, they honestly make me and my friends so happy when we’re going through stuff, because we can always count on your videos to make us laugh!”

Adrien couldn’t seem to find the words to respond to that – between the bright smile, and the honest words, he was feeling so… loved. Marinette took his hand, squeezing softly and centering him in just the way he needed – and the feeling of love increased. “Thank you so much for watching and supporting,” she said. “It means the world to us.”

The fan nodded. “I should leave you to your date. Thank you so much, for the autograph and everything!” She said, before walking away.

The two watched her go, and only when she had reunited with her parents did Marinette look to Adrien. “You good?” She asked, squeezing his hand again.

Adrien nodded. “It’s just – nobody’s so wholeheartedly complimented my work like that. Like, I work so hard on my YouTube videos… it’s nice to know people really like it.”

Marinette grinned up at him. “You are literally the cutest person ever.”

Adrien felt heat coming to his cheeks. “No, that’s impossible. It’s you.”

“Nu uh,” Marinette shook her head. “You. 100%. No takebacks.”

With a groan, Adrien rested his head on her shoulder (the position being surprisingly comfortable considering the height difference.) “I really like you, Mari.” He said.

Marinette wrapped her arms around him, and squeezed. “I really like you, too.”

He pulled his head up to rest on her forehead, and wrapped his arms around her waist. She looked up at him, a shy smile gracing her lips. “Can I kiss you?” He asked, although the words came out an almost-whisper. Marinette bit her lip softly, nodding.

He leant in. Their lips touched. And it felt like his heart was going to explode.

* * *

**I have a youtube channel** **@AdrienAgreste ****✓**

The new video is up thots [VID = Mari teaches me how to paint (fail)!!!]

17.1k Retweets 40k Likes 29.4k Comments

**crying in the club** **@adrienismyreligion**

The fcuking audacity for this boi to label his vid as a ‘fail’ boi ur good at EVERYTHING wtfff

**His ARMS @justastan**

Omg this video was so cute!!! Couples goals!!!

** _\- - -_ **

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

I SAW ADRIEN AGRESTE IN THE STREET TODAY AND GOT HIS AUTOGRAPH AND IMMA GET IT TATTOOED ON MY FOREHEAD

[IMG = the autographs, with adrien and marinette standing in the background]

2k Retweets 3.6k Likes 246 Comments

** His ARMS @justastan**

U LUCKY BITCH (but also don’t get that tattoo think of the job interviews)

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

Girl just try and stop meeee

** _\- - -_ **

** **

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

OH ALSO WHEN I MET THEM THEY SAID THEY WERE ON A DATE,,,, MARI WAS LIKE ‘THE ENTIRE INTERNET KNOWS WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST REVEAL IT’

8.4k Retweets 16.9k Likes 12.1k Comments

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

Receipts or it didn’t happen

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

anddd how tf do I get u receipts for a spoke conversation???

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

OK NOBODY PANIC NOBODY PANIC I SAID DON’T FUCKING PANIC

** _\- - -_ **

** **

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

Ok whilst all of twitter is having a seizure let’s play a game called what’s adrien bad at, I’ll go first. Knitting?

21.4k Retweets 46k Likes 19.1k Comments

**His ARMS @justastan**

Bro he has a knitted scarf and gloves and shit, he can knit. Acting?

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

He’s good at that!!! He’s in a bunch of commercials. How about kissing?? **@OfficialMDC ****✓**

** I put the hot in thoT @OfficialMDC**

no… he’s good at that 2

**crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

holy fucking shit

**His ARMS @justastan**

OH MY GODDDDD

** ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

THIS WAS THE SMOOTHEST

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they kissed!!!! lowkey i didn't realize they hadn't until it was pointed out to me, but now it's happened :D
> 
> tell me what you thought by leaving a comment!!!!


	14. and would you look at that, they do more stuff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> <3 bro u can't even, the vibes are strong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> efhsl these chapter titles are just getting worse and worse but u know what if the content is there, i guess it's my fic and therefore my right to fuck it up
> 
> that being said i'm gonna go back tomorrow and probably rename every chapter
> 
> THAT being said, enjoy!!! it's 5am here and i've been working on this for 3 hours so time to sleep

“Hello, my name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I am interviewing for the role of camerawoman,” Marinette says into the camera, a cheeky grin on her lips. “As you can see, we are not in Adrien’s usual settings – in fact, as you can probably see from the title, we’re in his new apartment!”

“Mari,” a loud groan comes from behind her, and Marinette’s head whips around to see Adrien holding two large boxes he can barely see over. “Stop making this about you,” he pants, “and catch film of me being super strong.”

“Well excuse me,” Marinette chuckles, adjusting the camera so it shows Adrien, red-faced and straining, but attractive all the same. “There we go, viewers. What a beautiful sight.”

Alya comes through the same front door, only lugging one box with her. “Marinette,” she whines, dropping the box. “Stop filming and do some heavy lifting.”

Marinette pouts, only half of her face in the frame. “But I’m like five feet!” She claims innocently. “I couldn’t lift anything.”

Nino comes in with a couple of boxes of his own, catching sight of Adrien drinking and frowning with jealousy. “Lies,” he states, also putting his box down and grabbing a bottle of his own. “You work in a bakery, dudette. I’ve seen you hold an entire bag of flour over your head, no sweat.”

“_That _is something I’d like to see,” Adrien says with a toast-like tilt of his waterbottle, before he takes another sip. “And what are you guys doing, dropping the boxes in here? Those are for the bedroom.”

Alya frowns. “I’m already doing your free labour. However many flights of stairs is enough.”

“We have an elevator,” Marinette whispers to the camera. Alya still hears her.

“It’s the principal, Marinette!” She claims, making her way to the door to grab some more boxes from the car. “I should be respected and admired!”

Marinette and Adrien share a smile, before Adrien stands, stretching his arms above his head and managing to both flex his biceps perfectly and reveal a sliver of skin at his waist. “Wow, mister smooth-model,” Marinette chuckles, zooming in on his torso. Adrien notices and his ears go adorably pink as he drops his arms to pull his shirt down.

“I’m gonna get more boxes,” is what he says, after a second of realizing the blush is not going to stop crawling up his neck. “Nino?”

“Coming,” the boy groans, putting his bottle down. “Man, if I had known I was lifting boxes today, I’d have started working out a week ago. This is hard stuff!”

With the other three gone to get more boxes, Marinette takes a seat on the floor, holding the camera against her propped-up knee. “Well,” she sighs, “Adrien was supposed to introduce the video, because this _is _his channel, but I suppose I can do it, because he’s a little busy.” She smiles. “Today we’re moving his stuff into his new apartment! Now, some people commented that you might be able to track him because we showed the interiors of the apartments – but don’t worry, we didn’t include the one he actually bought. And we won’t show you until we are all moved in; which is what we’re doing today!”

Adrien returns with another box, and Marinette flips the camera. “Oh, hey,” he says, hair now sticking to his forehead. “Fancy seeing you here.”

The joke, although overused, gets an unladylike snort out of Marinette, and Adrien pauses his heavy labour to stare openly at her. “What?” She asks embarrassedly.

“Nothing,” he shakes his head, a little like a dog shaking off water, and smiles. “I’ve never heard you make that sound. It’s cute.”

“Oh, stop flirting!” Alya comes into frame, taking a sip of her own water. “Mari, we all appreciate your camera skills, but what did Adrien’s fans sign up for? 2 hours of watching us lift boxes? Help us, and then you can record to your hearts’ desire.”

Marinette pouts, mumbling something about how she was sure Adrien’s fans would love to see him lifting boxes for 2 hours, but does give a happy wave to the camera, before shutting it off.

“And we’re back!” Marinette says with a wave to the camera. “It’s been about an hour since you last saw us, in which we’ve lugged a bunch of boxes into the apartment, and one mattress up many flights of stairs, because it didn’t fit in the elevator.” She places a hand to her heart, shaking her head sorrowfully. “We have toiled, but we have succeeded!”

Adrien passes her a sliced apple, rolling his eyes. “You’re such a dork.”

“Says you!” Marinette quips, biting into a slice. “Hey, take your camera back. My arm’s tired, and I’m tired too – of doing volunteer work for your channel.”

Adrien shakes his head, but does take the camera. “Hello, everyone!” He says with a happy wave. “I don’t know how much I’ll cut out, but as you just saw, we moved the boxes in. Now, we’re doing the main segment of this video – shopping for furniture. I wanted to go to Ikea, but apparently Nino is scared of them because he played some video game; so we’re sticking to online shopping.”

“You could get lost and never escape!” Nino called from the other room. Adrien chuckled softly, placing the camera on some sort of stand so it captured both him and Marinette looking at a laptop.

“Okay; so, Marinette’s here because I have no design sense, despite, you know, being a model – and Alya and Nino will also provide commentary. Alya’s just making the kitchen ‘home-y’, whatever that means – and Nino’s filming, so I might add in a clip of that here.”

* * *

The shot cuts to Alya sprinkling flour around the kitchen. “It’s not a home until you’ve been so disgusted by how dirty it is, you stress-clean for two hours,” she tells the camera. “I’m doing Adrien a favour.”

She takes another pinch of flour, and sprinkles it over a dark countertop as if garnishing a dish. “Beautiful,” she says.

* * *

The camera cuts back to Adrien and Marinette. “We actually came up with this idea,” says Marinette, “that we each decorate a room in his house, and Adrien does the rest! I dibs the bedroom,” she winks at the camera, but thankfully Adrien doesn’t see it, “and Nino got the living room, which leaves Alya with the kitchen or the bathroom. Right now, Adrien’s gonna shop for the dining room so we can get a taste of what kind of stuff he likes. This is, of course, a competition.”

Adrien rolls his eyes. “You’re so competitive.”

“You love it,” she responds. “And I’m going to win. Now get shopping!”

* * *

“What the hell?” Alya asked, looking at the computer screen. “Why are microwaves so expensive?”

They’d turned off the camera after an official sign-off, and Adrien was editing the video whilst his three friends used his credit card to buy all the interior designing stuff. The video was cute, but there was a lot of footage – he was either going to get a really long video, or have to cut loads of it.

“Do you need a microwave?” Alya asked Adrien. He shrugged.

“I mean, do I? All I really need is a stove, to boil water, for my instant ramen, right?”

From besides him, Marinette rolled her eyes. “You’re literally rich,” she sighed, pushing her shoulder into him teasingly. “You are not having instant ramen every night.”

“Why not?” He asked, pulling off his headphones. “I’m a dying student.”

“But you can afford food,” Alya said. “Besides, isn’t living off instant ramen a college stereotype?”

“It’s for the aesthetic,” he defended. “Nino gets me – right, dude?”

“Hell yeah,” Nino said. “Now Adrien; if you had to pick between a light teal and a sapphire, what would you prefer?”

Adrien went to answer, but Alya’s snort made him pause. “You’re actually trying?” She asked.

Nino shrugged. “I just want my dude to have a nice living room, you know?”

“Yeah, but… Marinette’s gonna win. She’s literally an artist, for chrissakes. And, you know… the whole favouritism thing.”

“Hey!” Adrien frowned. “I’m a good judge! Very fair.”

“Of course,” Marinette said, rubbing his arm. “Very fair.”

Nino huffed, shuffling a bit and re-adjusting his laptop. “Well Adrien can pick his girlfriend, but I’m beating you, Alya.”

“No way in _hell,” _Alya said, pushing up her sleeves and typing into the computer. “Now, Adrien – what is your preferred brand of microwave? And what’s your favourite colour? You like green, right?”

* * *

_Ok so I know mari’s not moving in with him but DOMESTIC ADRINETTE_

_Ughhh can they film a baking pt 2 but at his place_

_THIS WAS SO CUTE!!! U GO BOO_

_Adrien <3 my love <3 if u got a patreon I would literally sell my soul for more content <3 ily <3_

_Lmao they had to clarify that they didn’t show the actual apartment in the video so people wouldn’t stalk all the places,,, poor bby_

_ADRIEEEEEN I KNOW IT’S BEEN A WHILE BUT PLZ UPLOAD A TIKTOK UR ACTUALLY A RLLY GOOD DANCER I PROMISE_

_The cuteness,,, I Cannot Deal_

_Are Nino and Alya dating? They’re super cute_

_They are I think!!! She’s the ladyblogger and she posts about her personal life on insta quite a bit_

_Yessssss I love when vids are slightly longer!!!! More content!!!_

_WAIT but like can we just appreciate that marinette is literally strong enough to effortlessly hold a bag of flour over her head apparently?? Hot Fucking Damn_

_IVE SAID IT BEFORE BUT THEY MAKE THE BISEXUAL IN ME HAVE AN ANEURYSM_

_Why are they so cute they’re like such good bros and my heart can’t take it_

_Why can I only like this video once :( when :( I’ve seen it :( 10 times already :(_

_SUPER CUTE!!!!!!!!!_

* * *

Although Adrien had literally finally moved into his new apartment, he was over at Marinette’s for dinner, and that had morphed into the two of them playing video games in her room (well – she was schooling him, and he was just kind of dying over and over, but in total awe of her skill.) There was a plate of now-cold-but-still-delicious cookies sitting in front of them, that he had almost completely devoured himself – to his embarrassment.

“Go ahead,” Marinette had said with an amused smile, “I totally relate. My entire life has been dictated by baked goods.”

Now, though, he just kind of watched her as she played, so focussed that she probably didn’t even realize she was biting her lip. She didn’t look up for a while; not until she realized he wasn’t fighting back. He got to see as her eyebrows drew together, and she set the controller down, looking over.

“Is something wrong?” She asked, eyes so full of concern it made his heart skip a beat. Just seeing somebody care about him – especially like this – made him all soft inside.

He shook his head. “Just thinking.”

“Yeah?” She shifted in her chair so she was fully facing him, drawing a knee up to her chest. “About what?”

He took a moment, to draw his thoughts together. “Nino-“ he began, but faltered, slightly. “Nino called you my girlfriend.”

“Well, yeah,” she said, lips pulling into a smile. “We’re dating.”

“But – we’re not – you’re my girlfriend?”

Her head tilted adorably in confusion. “You don’t call me your girlfriend?” She asked.

“Well, there’s dating, but then there’s _dating, _you know? And I thought we were just doing the first one!”

“Okay,” Marinette nodded. “Well then – do you want to be dating, dating? Like, be my boyfriend?”

His heart warmed at that, again. “Yeah. I’d love to.”

“Great,” she leant over to place a sweet kiss to his lips. “Well then, _boyfriend, _if you beat me at the next round, I’ll buy you ice cream.”

And so, Adrien put up a good fight, but he knew from the start that the warmth in his chest was too distracting for him to win.

* * *

“My name is Adrien Agreste, and we’re not in my bedroom!” Adrien waved at the camera. “Actually, we’re in Marinette’s – because today we’re filming a super requested video. The boyfriend/girlfriend tag!” He whooped softly to himself, chuckling at the dorkiness afterwards. “After it blew up on twitter, I figured I’d confirm things here – and about an hour ago, I asked you guys on Instagram for any relationship questions – which we’ll be answering today!”

“Wait,” Marinette said. “Isn’t the boyfriend/girlfriend tag just like a ‘how well do you know each other’ kind of thing? From like 2012?”

Adrien shrugged. “Well, it’s 2020 now, and I’m doing it this way. It’s easier.”

“Fair enough,” Marinette said. “What’s the first question?”

* * *

_I am literally going to die. TheY CONFIRMED IT THEY’RE SO CUTE_

_The vibes. The shitty lighting. The execution. The snort-laugh. The genuine-ness. This is a fucking masterpiece._

_I think watching this video and seeing how much those 2 were made for each other was the peak of my lifetime and ill never feel this way again_

_THEY WERE LITERALLY SO CUTE_

_Like this comment if u shipped adrienette from day 1_

_What a win u guys,,,,,, they got together_

_Lmaoo this comment section is almost as bad as twitter that day it blew up over this_

_THIS VIDEO IS LITERALLY TRENDING LOOK AT OUR POWER_

_Efjghfdkl I love them so muchhhh_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!!! also a lil fun fact, thre are like 7/8 ish more chapters of this if i stick to my plan, and because i was sad it was ending, i started calling adrien a 'funky lil eboy' in my notes so u can just have that little snippet of info <3
> 
> i love y'all!!! stay safe and thank u so much for all the comments, kudos, bookmarks, subscriptions, etc. i see every one of u <3


	15. videos, a visit, a talk and another video

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Videos are filmed. Chat makes a stop at Marinette's balcony - and Marinette and Adrien talk, and are cute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know if anybody knows what i'm talking about but the entire time i was writing this chapter i had that tiktok of hannah montana transition songs stuck in my head :/
> 
> also this chapter contains light spoilers for avatar legend of korra so on the off chance you're watching that right now, beware ;)
> 
> hope you enjoy!!

“Hello, my name is Adrien Agreste, and we’re in an empty room!” Adrien says with a smile. “Well, technically, it’s not empty – we’re sitting on a mattress, and the camera is sitting on a tripod.”

“Adrien,” Alya said from besides him with a raised eyebrow.

“And, of course, I’m in the room too! And with my good friend, Alya Cesaire, who you guys know!”

Alya waved to the camera. “So, the room isn’t empty,” she concluded.

“…Right. It just looks pretty scarce.”

They both took a moment to look around. “Anyway!” Adrien said, clapping his hands together. “Today, we’re doing a video that was actually requested quite a bit – which is teaching me modern slang, and pop culture references, that have previously gone over my head. And who better than a journalist who spends all day on the internet?”

Alya narrowed her eyes. “I can’t tell if you’re complimenting me or not.”

“Definitely a compliment!” Adrien turned to the camera. “As most of you know, Alys runs the Ladyblog, so she interacts with so many more people than I do on a daily basis – and she’s the most well-versed in slang out of all our friendship group.”

“Right,” Alya said. “So how are we doing this?”

“Well, I have a bunch of comments I don’t understand,” Adrien picks up his phone and shakes it as if that will show the viewers proof, “and you also have a couple of things, right? I think we’re doing it kind of like a gameshow – there are several answers, and I have to pick the right one.”

Alya nods. “Okay… question one. What does it mean to be a ‘simp’?”

* * *

Adrien hadn’t really patrolled as Chat much since moving into his new apartment – he’d been busy, mostly with school, and although there were akuma attacks, he didn’t really get a chance afterwards to stick around and have a chat with Ladybug. But tonight, after hours of editing just so that he could post his scheduled video tomorrow, he felt like he needed the fresh air.

He also, apparently, felt like he needed his girlfriend – because that was where he’d ended up, after a half hour of running around Paris.

Of course, Marinette didn’t know he was _Chat Noir, _so he couldn’t see her anymore – or he could, but they could just be friends… which would be hard for him. Could they still be friends?

Before he had the adequate time to mull over the issue, Marinette came up onto her balcony, easily spotting him. “Chat!” She called out in half-surprise, as if she didn’t have a built-in Chat Noir tracker (which she totally did – how else could she explain knowing he was up here so quickly?) “I haven’t seen you in ages!”

“Good evening, Princess,” Chat dipped into an exaggerated bow, allowing his lips to quirk up much more than he would if he were Adrien. “I was just… dropping in.”

“I see,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest to fight the cold air. “Well, do you want to come in? We’re out of hot chocolate, I’m afraid, but my Papa made way too many raspberry tarts today.”

He followed her inside, feeling the familiar wash of warm air over his skin, and found himself naturally gravitiating towards her chaise as she opened the trapdoor. “Be back in a second,” she said softly, before leaving him alone.

Leaving him. Alone.

She’d done it many times before, but it was only now that the realization was starting to set in that she trusted him. Him, practically a stranger (sure, they hung out, but she _really _didn’t know anything about him) and yet she allowed him to roam free in her personal space?

Marinette had always been that kind of person. Open, warm, easily-trusting. It was something he loved about her.

The familiar sound of footfalls on the ladder accompanied a peek of dark hair before Marinette climbed back into her room, artfully balancing a plate of tarts in one hand. “I brought some macarons, too – I know you like those,” she said with a smile, coming to place the plate on the end of the chaise, but not before she took a treat for herself. “So, Chat,” she mumbled, taking a bite. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

It was a statement, but she’d made it seem more of a question, prompting him to answer, “I’ve been busy,” as he reached for a delicacy of his own.

Marinette nodded understandingly. “Are you alright?”

“Peachy!” He said. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason in particular. I just wondered.”

That made him feel good, too. Another thing he loved about her. Her attentiveness to others.

“Actually… I did hear some things…” He stretched out in a true cat-like fashion, fixing his gaze on her. “And you know what they say… curiosity killed the cat.”

“Ask away,” Marinette encouraged, finishing her tart.

He saw the opportunity, and he grabbed it with both of his clawed hands. “I heard you’re dating Adrien Agreste.”

Marinette, at the time, wasn’t eating anything – but if she was, he was sure she would have choked on it, from the way her eyes widened and she had to ‘subtly’ clear her throat before she spoke. “You did?”

Chat shrugged. “What can I say? You got me hooked on his videos, and I happened to see an announcement on one of them. Is it true?”

She nodded, and her smile turned slightly bashful. “He’s great, Chat. He’s so kind, and funny, and caring… and not that it means anything, but he’s _beautiful, _too, and he’s so sweet all the time – and he does this thing when he holds my hand where he-“

Chat blinked. When he’d brought it up, he wasn’t expecting much – he definitely wasn’t expecting a one-sided gush session about himself.

“-and the other day he teared up when we were watching a Studio Ghibli movie… Chat, I am _so _lucky.”

Marinette pushed her hands into her cheeks, trying to quell the smile on her face. “Sorry,” she said, “I’m offloading on you, it’s just… I’m really happy, Chat.”

“Good,” he said honestly, trying to slow the beating of his own heart, terrified she could hear how fast it was pumping. “I’m glad you’re happy.”

She looked up at him. “You know, you make me happy, too – but you haven’t been hanging out with me enough lately. I thought stray cats were supposed to return if you fed them.”

“Oh, so you’re feeding me for my company?” He teased. Marinette shoved half-heartedly at his legs, before slumping.

“I missed you, Chat.”

Even though he didn’t feel that he hadn’t seen her much (he’d seen her practically every day), he felt a pang of guilt. “I missed you too.” He said.

Marinette held his gaze for a moment, and Adrien felt that in that moment he ws broadcasting enough that she’d figure him out in a heartbeat – and yet he couldn’t look away. Even in the dim lighting of her bedroom, in almost the middle of the night, the blues still struck into his very soul.

“Now,” he began, licking a stray drop of raspberry jam off a claw and reaching for a macaron. “Tell me more about this boyfriend of yours.”

* * *

“Yeah, but if Korra took Asami to the South Pole with her, we’d have so much more character _and _relationship development!” Adrien explained. On the other side of the FaceTime call, Marinette was doing her nails.

“I hear you,” she said, “but if she _had _gone, we would’ve missed out on that whole cute letter-sending thing – which is super romantic.”

“But they could have travelled the world together! Can you imagine if Asami met Toph?”

“But then the whole ‘surprise-we’re-missing’ is ruined because Asami would’ve at least told Mako they were headed back, right? Korra disappeared, which was powerful because she was by herself.”

Adrien sighed. “I guess. I just wanted more Korrasami content.”

“Same,” Marinette sighed. “Like, I loved the comics – but they should have at least let them kiss.”

“Exactly!” Adrien groaned. “When Alya told me I needed to watch the Avatar, I didn’t expect to get this heated over it.”

Marinette chuckled. “And I’m glad you made me watch it with you – I forgot how good it was.”

They fell into a comfortable silence; Marinette concentrating, and Adrien just kind of watching her.

Her eyes flickered up, and she fought the grin on her face. “What?” She asked, chuckling softly.

“Nothing,” he said. “You’re just so pretty.”

Marinette went as crimson as her pink nails. “Oh my god! You can’t just say that, or I’ll smudge my nailpolish!”

“What?” He continued. “You’re so impressed by my smooth skills that you’ll smudge your nails?”

“I’ll smudge _your _nails,” Marinette mumbled – sending Adrien into a startled laugh.

“Was that – was that a threat?” He said in between chuckles. “I’ll smudge your nails?”

Marinette whined through a laugh of her own. “Stop teasing me,” she said.

Adrien settled. “Okay,” he agreed. “Guess I’ll just read some Korrasami fanfiction to fill a hole in my soul.”

He began scrolling on his computer for a second (serious about finding that fanfiction – although Marinette didn’t know) when she cleared her throat.

“Hey, Adrien?” She asked. He hummed, looking at her through the screen.

Her face was more earnest, the traces of humour having dropped away. “Do you mind if I hang out with other guys, one-on-one?”

His eyebrows drew together, and he pushed his laptop away to look as much into her eyes as he could. “What do you mean?”

“Well, usually I wouldn’t,” she said, “but there’s this one friend I have – did I ever tell you I’m friends with Chat Noir? – that I can’t really meet in a group setting. Everything is totally platonic between us, but… we hang out, one on one… and he’s a dude.”

“Oh.” He should have known – because now he wants to laugh again, but that would be kind of dickish. Marinette was the _cutest._

“I trust you,” he said instead. “Thank you for telling me. And if you say you’re just friends, you’re just friends.”

Marinette smiles at him. “You’re so… ugh.” She laughs, covering her face with her hands. “Why are you so nice to me?”

Adrien laughs. “Because I really like you.”

The hands lower to reveal her eyes, and the adorable creases next to them to show she’s smiling. “I really like you, too.”

“Good,” Adrien turns back to his computer. “Okay. Korrasami fics…”

“Wait – what?”

* * *

“Hi, my name isn’t Adrien Agreste!” Nino says to the camera, his free hand making finger guns.

“Wow,” Alya says from besides him. “You really think you did something monumental.”

Nino ignores her. “Obviously! Because it’s Nino Lahiffe! Today, Adrien had to stay home, because we’re going shopping for his apartment stuff. So that Adrien doesn’t totally ruin the surprise, we’re gonna film this video, and the reaction video before either of them go up, so he can edit them afterwards.”

“Smart,” Alya says. “Are you going to explain what we’re doing?”

“Right!” Nino laughs. “Right now, we’re shopping for furniture. Well, Alya and I are – Marinette got lost in the fabric store down the street.”

Alya shrugs. “Her loss. But Nino and I are going to divide and conquer, for our separate rooms – and we’ll meet back at the apartment. So you’ll probably see several different clips of how that goes, including Marinette’s stuff, starting… now!”

The camera fumbles for a second, and Nino says, “wait; how do you turn this off?” before the feed cuts.

Alya is in sone store, looking around. “How many plates does he need?” She says to herself. “Is it even my job to _buy _his plates? And what about cutlery? What about bowls? What about pots and pans?”

Then we see Nino, who is placing the camera in various places, and sprawling across different sofas, before rating them out of ten – on comfort, aesthetic, and ‘hominess’ – whatever that means. He jumps on a green sofa, except he miscalculates, and falls off the edge and out of frame, letting out a groan after the thud of him hitting the floor.

A clip of Marinette, back at the apartment, grinning. “Alya and Nino are still out,” she says quietly, “but Adrien’s trying to build his dining table in the next room. I was smart – I made a design, and ordered all the furniture I wanted for the room beforehand, so all I have to do is assemble it, and get everything in. But first; we have to paint!”

She backs up from the camera, revealing that she’s in paint-splattered overalls, hair done up in a messy bun. “Okay, so black walls are a no-go, but I found this really cute shade of charcoal-y grey that we could do with accents of different colours,” she says. “We’ll have to do a couple of coats, but I’ll leave the time lapsing of that to Adrien.” She winks, before setting up the paint. “I should probably ask him to help,” she says before she starts painting, “but… no spoilers.”

Another clip of Alya, as she walks around. “Okay,” she says, “so I’m lost. This store is huge. Huge enough to have a restaurant, anyway.”

The transition between clips is a few seconds of Marinette speed-painting the walls, before we see Nino again. “I don’t know how to play this,” he says, “because how many other people are going to put green into his rooms?” He pauses, before his eyes light up. “Oh my god; Adrien literally _loves _Ladybug. We’re going red, dudes.”

Another cut, this time to Adrien. “Hey everyone!” He waves at the camera, the other hand reaching to push long blonde hair off his forehead. “So, I wasn’t going to film my bit – but I _finally _made the dining table, and-“ he stops speaking to catch his breath, which is slightly laboured. “My hair is getting _really _long. Maybe Mari has a hairband?”

He pushes it out of his face again. “Mari?” He calls.

“Yeah?” She responds from the other room.

“Do you have a hairband?”

A pause, and Marinette peeks her head in. “Yeah,” she says, handing it over. “For what?”

Adrien takes the top half of his hair, tying it in a small ponytail. “That,” he says. “Lifting wood is nothing to be laughed at.”

Marinette looks at him fondly, tucking a stray piece behind his ear. “You’re such a dork,” she says. “But you’re really cute.”

Adrien smiles, before he does a once over of her. “Why do you smell like paint?” He asks.

Her eyes widen, and she runs out of the room. Adrien laughs, half-confused, half-breathless. “Well,” he says, turning back to the camera. “Moving on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, lovelies!! thank you so much for all the continued support on this fic, it makes me so happy <3
> 
> also adrien with long hair wasn't a goal i set out to achieve but it's cute as hell and we're sticking with it


	16. dear god, everything becomes a disaster (but in a good way)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I see the adrichat fiasco, and raise you... this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ofiughfjdk this has been in the plans since before that whole buggachat mess (which we all loved, don't lie) but if you thought THAT was a mess, i present to you: twitter
> 
> this is just me being nostalgic about leaving my house for half the chap, and then a mess... enjoy!!!
> 
> also, parts that are underlined in tweets are supposed to be links!!

“Where are we going?” Adrien chuckled. Marinette shushed him from the drivers seat of the car, turning a corner before her hand found his across the centre console.

“You’ll find out,” she said, eyes alight although they didn’t meet his. At first, when she’d shown up outside his apartment in her parents car, having sent a cryptic text to ‘wear something you can move in’ a half hour ago, she had wanted him to wear a blindfold.

He’d shut that down pretty quickly, though. If anyone publicly saw him wearing a blindfold… plus, he wasn’t quite sure she was ready to see his reaction to that sort of thing, yet.

“Mari,” he whined, squeezing her hand as if it would pull the answers out of her. “Can’t I just know now?”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry,” she said. “We’re close.”

With a sigh, he sat back, looking out the window as they drove down a long road. “You’re not, like, going to murder me, right?”

“No. It’s broad daylight; what do you take me for?”

That made Adrien smile softly. “Just wondering,” he asked. “Because it looks like we’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“Yeah,” Marinette turned on the indicator. “We need a lot of space for what we’re doing.”

Adrien barely had time to ask her what in the _hell _that meant before they were pulling into a parking lot. “Alright,” Marinette said after they’d stopped. “we’re here.”

“And where exactly is here?” Adrien asked. “Also, what did you mean for ‘we need a lot of space’, because _that _sounds pretty murder-ish-“

Looking to his left, he saw that Marinette had already gotten out of the car. Wonderful.

He got out too, taking his girlfriend’s outstretched hand. “You trust me, right?” Marinette asked.

He did; of course he did, but instead, he said, “you’re making it very difficult to.”

Her hand fit perfectly in his, and it never failed to make him all sorts of gooey inside – _especially _when she initiated the contact. “Come on,” Mari pulled him towards the only building he’d seen in the last 10 miles.

Geez, he was joking about the murder-in-a-woods thing, but the more he let his mind rest on it, the creepier the situation got – daylight or no daylight.

They entered the building and were met with a flush of heat that made Adrien want to take off his loose jacket and curl up. “Is this the date?” He asked, slowing his walk to a very casual stroll and making Marinette join him. “Cuddling in a warm, deserted building for six hours?”

“Deserted?” Marinette chuckled up at him. “Adrien, where do you think we are?”

Adrien shrugged, looking around. “Some… desolate diner-sort of thing? I didn’t even know we had this kind of thing in France.”

“No,” Marinette tugged his arm so he turned her way. “Look over there.”

Adrien studied the room. “We’re… golfing?”

“Mini-golfing, silly,” she said, free hand reaching up to tuck a stray hair behind his ear. He didn’t like the look of his hair up (Mari says it was cute, but he looked like a mess that hadn’t brushed his hair in three days) so she’d lent him the idea of wearing hats. Today he donned a black beanie that made him look sort of edgy, especially next to his human-epitome-of-sunshine soft girlfriend. “Like the idea?”

“Why are we in the middle of nowhere?” He asked instead. “Isn’t mini golfing… mini?”

“There’s a full golf course on the other side,” she explained. “Now come on. We have an appointment.”

Ten minutes, an explanation of the rules and scoring system, a golf club and a ball later, and they were at the first hole. “You want to go first?” Marinette offered.

Adrien placed his ball down, and hit it with the same technique he’d seen people on TV do – and his ball ricocheted off some side, coming back to almost exactly where he started. “Shit.”

From besides him, Marinette laughed as she put her own ball down. “Wow,” she said, lining up her shot. “I didn’t think you could be bad at something.”

She hit her ball; hole in one.

“How?” He asked. “Have you done this before? You have. You have to.”

“No,” she chuckled. “I found this place online, but I’ve never been. This talent is all-natural, babe.”

He tried to ignore the way the nickname made him feel – or the grin on her face – but couldn’t resist leaning in for a quick peck. “For luck,” he explained when he pulled back and her eyes were half-dazed.

“Yeah, right,” she said, the cutest blush rising to her cheeks. He _loved _when she blushed. “You’re trying to distract me.”

“Am not!” He hit again – the ball got somewhere, but not near enough to the hole for him to be happy. “Teach me your tricks.”

Marinette shrugged. “I just hit it. Beginner’s luck, maybe?”

Twenty-two holes and a sixty-point lead later, it was clear that it was not beginner’s luck – just that Marinette was half decent at the game, and Adrien was so horrifyingly bad that it just made her look better. He’d taken the loss with a half-hearted pout (that Marinette was more than happy to kiss away) before they settled for food in the café.

“Smile!” Mari said to Adrien right as he’d taken a bite of that food. He tried his best to grin with his mouth closed, but his eyes squinted as the phone camera flashed, and his cheeks were chubby with food, and he was sure that was the most unflattering photo ever.

“Delete that,” he said after he swallowed.

“What? No!” Marinette said, biting into one of her chips (that she ate with mayonnaise, the heathen.) “It’s so cute.”

She typed away for another second, before putting her phone down. “So cute that your fans will thank me for it.”

Adrien’s eyes narrowed. “You’re evil.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Marinette, sipping at her lemonade. “I’ve heard it all before.”

“Really?”

“No. Everybody _loves _me.”

She put her drink down to take a giant bite out of her burger, and Adrien settled his head into one of his hands, content to just watch her. As the realization dawned on her face that the bite was too big, he couldn’t help thinking that he could see why everybody loved her.

Love. Were they in love?

* * *

“Hi, my name is Adrien Agreste, and we’re in my dining room!” Adrien gestured around himself. “This is, honestly, a stupid room to do this video in, but since all my other rooms are being decorated right now, this is where we’re filming. I’m joined by my wonderful girlfriend, Marinette,” he turned to her to see her waving at the camera, “and we will be doing the yoga challenge!”

“We’re a little late for that, say… six years?” Marinette commented with a grin.

“Yeah, well I didn’t have a channel back then, and I always wanted to film one of these videos.”

“True that,” she chuckled. “Those were some good times.”

“Anyway, today we’re doing five couples yoga poses – or attempting them. What do you think? Can we do it?”

“Definitely,” Marinette said, rolling up one of her short sleeves to flex a bicep. “The two of us are built like tanks.”

Adrien looked over Marinette – true, she was toned (incredibly so – it was unfairly attractive) but she was also miniscule. “Okay,” he said, trying not to let his eyes linger on her bicep. “Let’s pull up the first pose, then?”

* * *

_THE BLOOPERS OF THEM LAUGHING AT THEMSELVES MADE ME SO HAPPY IM DYING_

_Ok was anybody gonna tell me mari was buff or?????_

_Lkjfjekldk came here for the hot dude left with hots for the girl_

_ANY ONE OF THEM COULD RUN ME OVER AND I’D THANK THEM_

_Ughhhh when they said 2014 YT was a simpler time I felt that shit_

_Adrien don’t show ur stomach omg ur gonna get dEmOnEtIsEd_

_How do they BOTH have abs tho like I might just cry_

_Ok who let them be hot AND have good personalities coz I we need to talk im-_

_COUPLES GOALS!!!_

_Ugh remember like 8 months ago when he started his channel and we all thought he was a baby??? Not anymore he’s a daddy now_

_Skjfhnkd this is so chaotic like the two yoga mats?? Adrien wearing jeans?? Filming in a dining room??? The bloopers of them falling a LOT?? _

_Ok so now im in love_

* * *

**I have a youtube channel** **@AdrienAgreste ****✓**

Come get y’all juice [VID = French people try American food]

92.1k Retweets 140k Likes 29.4k Comments

**His ARMS @justastan**

Ok who gave adrien Agreste rights to become a meme-er because it’s killing me

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Just like,,,, how could u NOT stan this

** _\- - - _ **

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

OK SO DID Y’ALL SEE THIS PIC MARI POSTED??? ADRIEN AGRESTE WEARING A BEANIE??? Uterus who??? We don’t know her

6.9k Retweets 14k Likes 136 Comments

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

I KNOW RIGHT CAN HE DO A VID WHERE HE TRANSFORMS HIMSELF INTO AN EBOY

**His ARMS @justastan**

But also can he not idk if my heart could take it

** _\- - - _ **

** **

** **

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Ok so both mari and adrien could top me ANY DAY

22.1k Retweets 31k Likes 1.9k Comments

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

Like they’re so cute together but also if they’re looking for a third im right hereee

**His ARMS @justastan**

Bitch me 2 tf

** _\- - - _ **

** **

** **

**I put the hot in thoT @OfficialMDC ** **✓**

New collection launching tonight at midnight on my boutique!!!

61k Retweets 211.3k Likes 33.9k Comments

**I have a youtube channel** **@AdrienAgreste ****✓**

It’s a big one guys

**I put the hot in thoT @OfficialMDC ****✓**

Adrien wtf that sounds strange

**I have a youtube channel @AdrienAgreste ****✓**

WAIT RLLY IT WASN’T MEANT 2 I JUST MEANT UR RLLY TALENTED

**I put the hot in thoT @OfficialMDC ****✓**

Awwww,,,, babe

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

WHY ARE Y’ALL SO CUTE THO

**His ARMS @justastan**

He don’t be joking tho,,, the collection is SICK AF

** _\- - -_ **

**I have a youtube channel @AdrienAgreste**

It’s a day early?? Another video for y’all <3 [VID: Mari and I become Ladybug and Chat Noir]

144k Retweets 239k Likes 51.4k Comments

**His ARMS @justastan**

Ok I can’t be the only one that sees it but it looks like mari and adrien are in love with both LB and CN right??

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

New vid new vid new vid new vid

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

** @justastan **broooo check ur dms tho

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

OMG have y’all seen the #thatfoursome tag WTF???

** _\- - - _ **

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

PROOF that Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Adrien Agreste have had a foursome with Ladybug and Chat Noir; a Thread (by me) #thatfoursome

114k Retweets 266k Likes 96k Comments

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

Ok so first off adrien has been very public about his crush on Ladybug since a young age, he spoke about it here and here and he’s often pictured in Ladybug merchandise 1/?

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

SECONDLY it was once said on the Ladyblog that marinette might be dating chat?? (old post but still) Or at least their friends, because they’ve hung out during akuma attacks and chat pays her semi-regular visits,,, as friends?? AND this survived the Ladyblog purge which means it has truthful parts 2/?

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

mari and adrien are dating, and although nobody knows about LB and CN, it’s been theorised they’ve been dating since their superhero debut like 5 years ago 3/?

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

Although ladybug hasn’t been caught for a public statement, chat noir has previously said he’s a fan of adrien’s, and ages ago LB was seen here just like,,,,staring at one of adrien’s ads?? Which is a mood but also is NOT PLATONIC 4/?

**Where TF is my wig @adrinette4life123**

AND in adrien’s latest video, him and mari explained their celebrity crushes and laughed like they had something to hide (which they probably do!!!) adrien and mari are both rlly influential people, and we know LB and CN- 5/?

**Where TF is my wig @adrinette4life123**

Are around the same age as both mari and adrien!!! Plus both Mari and Adrien have had multiple run-ins with the superheroes (they’re from that school, y’all) and so they’ve known each other/been friends for a while!!! 6/?

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

ALSO mari just released a ladybug themed collection and in the past has released chat noir merch AND chat noir inspired stuff. THIS COULD BE because adrien likes LB but also collections are a lot of work!! So she probably likes her a lot too 7/?

**Where TF is my wig @adrinette4life123**

TO CONCLUDE adrien, mari, LB and CN have had a foursome on AT LEAST one occasion and are trying to keep it on the down low but adrien isn’t subtle about anything, idk if they’re in a poly relationship or if it’s all just casual :) 8/8 (FINAL)

** **

** _\- - -_ **

**crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

What would the ship name be?? Ladrinettenoir?? Adrichatmaribug??? Adribugmarichat??? Ladynoiradrinette???? #thatfoursome

28.1k Retweets 52.8k Likes 3.4k Comments

**His ARMS @justastan**

This is a whole shit show,,,, I like the first one

**Where TF is my wig @adrinette4life123**

WTF THIS IS BLOWING UP SO MUCH

** crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Yeah and it’s ur fault

** **

** _\- - -_ **

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

We had the power to get **@OfficialMDC ****✓ **and **@AdrienAgreste ****✓** to respond once, how about we do it again?? #thatfoursome

12.1k Retweets 17k Likes 749 Comments

**His ARMS @justastan**

#thatfoursome guys reblog this!!! Ugh I want a confirmation lol

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

SAME BITCH can u imagine if #thatfoursome actually happened

** **

** **

** _\- - -_ **

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

If #thatfoursome actually happened, I would implode,,, the amount of Pretty in a single room at once,,, bro

19k Retweets 46k Likes 214 Comments

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

We get it ur gay

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Bisexual, actually, and up for anything ;) **@OfficialMDC ****✓** **@AdrienAgreste ****✓**

** _\- - -_ **

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

#thatfoursome IS TRENDING THAT MEANS ADRIEN AND MARI AND LB AND CN HAVE PROBABLY SEEN IT AAHHHH

6.2k Retweets 13k Likes 196 Comments

** _\- - -_ **

**His ARMS @justastan**

Just a reminder that im working towards an art degree,,, and I just dedicated 7 hours of my life to this when I should be working for finals #thatfoursome

[IMG = Ladybug, Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng]

44k Retweets 91.8k Likes 21.6k Comments

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Girl the talent just POPPED OFF

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

OMG IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL CAN I MAKE IT MY BACKGROUND

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha what the actual fuck
> 
> also y'all probably thought i was exaggerating for the first half of the chap huh


	17. the follow-up that isn't really a follow-up at all

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The more you know™

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so early for me haha like I usually struggle with weekly updates but the support on the last chapter <3
> 
> i think i've finally earnt the 'crack treated seriously' tag, so i'll be adding that. also, this chapter is fun. i wonder what i mean by that?
> 
> enjoy!!!

Okay, just to keep the record straight, Adrien had absolutely _no clue _how this even happened. Well, obviously he did – he lived through it, and recalled every second in excruciatingly realistic detail, but none of it was his fault, per se. It was just… luck.

It started on patrol a couple of days ago. He, as Chat, had got there to Ladybug watching the lights on the Eiffel Tower from a nearby rooftop, looking every bit as beautiful as she always did. He’d made sure to touch down with enough noise to alert her to his presence, before walking up and joining her.

They watched the Tower for a second, sparkling in amongst the lights of Paris, before he spoke. “Lost in thought?”

Ladybug shrugged slightly, leaning back and resting her weight on her hands. “Kind of. Just… thinking.”

Chat nodded as if he understood. “What are you thinking about?”

Her head tilted his way, and even in the absence of light, her eyes were a deep blue lake. “When was the last akuma attack?”

“Last week,” Chat recalled. A little over a week ago, actually – it was some girl who’d lost a debate competition and went around with flashcard-weapons. “Why?”

“And the one before that?”

He paused, to think. “I don’t know. Two weeks, maybe?”

Ladybug nodded. “I think it was about that, too. Maybe even longer. But it used to be an akuma attack every other day – Hawkmoth is being quiet.”

Adrien pursed his lips slightly. “You’re worried?”

She shook her head softly. “Not… worried,” she began, drawing in a breath. “Just cautious, I suppose.”

“It’s kind of creepy, now that you brought it up,” he confessed with a shiver that was more the cool air than anything. “Maybe he’s building up to some master plan.”

“Or maybe he’s just busy,” Ladybug supplied. “Finally. When we’ve been busy, we still had to fight. I like having a vacation.”

Chat laughed softly. “Me too. More free time.”

“Yeah,” said Ladybug. “Gives me time to spend with my boyfriend.”

Chat blinked once. Then twice. “You have a boyfriend?”

Ladybug’s eyes widened comically, as if she didn’t even notice she let that slip. “Uh… yeah,” she said. “I do.”

She bit her lip, arms drawing around her waist in the way they used to all those years ago when she was unsure of herself, and wanted to hide away. Chat let his own face light up.

“Really?” He asked, trying (and failing) to keep his voice down. “That’s so cool! What’s he like?”

Ladybug met his eyes. “You’re not… I don’t know, hurt or something?”

“No!” Chat said. “Actually, I got a girlfriend!”

Her face pulled into a grin. “Oh my god, Chat! You did! What’s she like?”

He shook his head. “You first.”

Ladybug let a lazy smile light up her features. “Well… we’ve been dating a little over a month,” she began, “and he’s literally the sweetest person ever. He’s kind of a celebrity, but he’s the most down to earth person ever, and he’s so sweet with his fans, Chat… we hang out loads, and facetime a lot, and sometimes we play videogames together – and we also work on his job quite a bit? But it’s fun, and his fanbase seem to love it, so… I really like him.”

“That’s awesome!” Chat said honestly. A small part of his heart still tugged for Ladybug, but happiness for his best friend outweighed the hurt. Plus, he had the best girlfriend in the world.

“What about you?” She asked, digging an elbiw into his side. “Who’s the lucky lady?”

“She’s literally the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen,” said Chat. “Except – I’m not dating her because she’s pretty, _but she is, _but she’s also so kind, and talented, and – she’s really into fashion, she makes her own clothes, and she has this store online that just released a new collection… based on you, actually, and she plans the _best _dates – the other day, we went mini-golfing, and she was good at that, too!”

He turned to Ladybug, who was just watching him. After a few moments of the stillness, his smile began to fade. “My Lady?” He asked, reaching out to touch her hand. She drew it back, finally blinking and looking to the spot where their hands almost met.

A single tear slipped down her cheek.

Chat pulled his hand away immediately, as if it had been the thing to hurt her. “What’s wrong?” He asked. “Was it me? Can I help? Do you want me to go?”

Another tear, and with it, a weak smile, as she lifted her hand to Chat’s cheek, stroking softly. Usually that kind of thing would have him leaning into the touch, but he fought the urge, tracing her face for clues for the hurt. “Don’t go,” she said. “You’re… you’re perfect.”

Chat’s eyebrows drew together. “I’m so confused,” he said, honestly.

Ladybug let out a watery laugh, letting her hand fall, and Chat immediately missed the warmth. “I… I know it wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” she said, sniffling and wiping a tear, “but I…”

“Yeah?” He prompted.

“I know your identity, Chat.”

He drew back, slightly. “Oh,” he said, first – and then, “how?”

Ladybug shrugged. “You’re not very subtle, you silly tomcat. If Ladybug had been anybody but me…”

“Wait – are you sure I’m who you think I am?” Chat asked. “Because… what if you’re wrong?”

“I’m not wrong,” she said with a shake of her head. “Adrien.”

“Oh,” he said again. “No. You’re not.”

Ladybug reached out, taking one of his hands between two of hers and squeezing. “I’m not disappointed it’s you,” she said. “In fact… I couldn’t be happier.”

A flurry of emotions, none of which he could name, were fighting in his chest – but he managed to get out a witty remark. “Why?” He drawled. “One of my fans?”

She nodded. “The biggest.”

He… didn’t know what to think of that. Honestly, what was he thinking, giving out all that information? All of it was online – any one of his fans could have figured it out, and now, knowing Ladybug was a faceless viewer of his videos…

“Do I know you?” He asked. “Like, personally?”

She nodded. “You do. You actually know me pretty well.”

“Am I allowed to know who you are?”

Another nod. “Think, kitty.” Her hand squeezed his. “I’ll give you a clue. My boyfriend is a really public figure; he has a bad family background, but I love him enough to make up for all of that. We’ve been dating for a month,” she emphasized, “and I work with him a lot, at his job. At first, we tried to hide our relationship… but the internet found out. And, the other day, I took him mini-golfing, and totally destroyed him at it.”

His jaw dropped slightly, and he traced her features with his free hand. Her eyes slid shut as his fingers feathered down the arch over her nose, over her cheekbones, to the swell of her upper lip. All so familiar… so…

“Marinette,” he breathed.

“Yeah,” she said, squeezing his hand again, so tight that a part of him worried she would break it, before another remembered she’d just heal it anyway, plus he was super strong in the suit. “Surprise.”

“I-“ he faltered, looking down at their intertwined hands. “You love me?”

“I do,” she said. “I was pretty sure before, but now, kniwing you’re _you, _I’m sure.”

“I love you too,” he said, eyes misting up slightly. “I love you, Marinette.”

His hand, which had sort of rested on her shoulder, pulled her in so he could place his lips against hers and try to convery the tenderness he felt for her in a single kiss. Her lips were slightly salty, fron the tears – and as he deepened the kiss, he realized she was still crying.

He pulled back. “Why?” He asked, wiping the tears. She smiled again.

“I’m so happy,” she said honestly, pulling him into another kiss.

“I love you,” he said the second she pulled back for air. “I love you,” as he pressed a kiss to her jaw. “I love you,” as his lips skimmed her neck, making his way back up to reclaim her lips.

Somewhere between his kisses making their way up to her forehead, she started laughing – and soon, he followed. “This is so weird,” she said.

“Weird?” He asked, pulling back.

“No – not like that. Just knowing who you are. Chat, my heart… I can’t even describe it.”

“I know,” he said, this time because he did. His chest felt as if it were so full, it were about to explode. Just looking at her, and being able to hold her like this, and knowing that _she _loved him, too, and she felt like this for him as well. “I love you.”

Their lips met again (and got _very well acquainted, _if you caught his drift) until Ladybug – Marinette – pulled back. “Wait,” she said. “But you, as Chat, visited Marinette.”

“Yes,” he said after a moment.

“And I was worrying about breaking Adrien’s trust by hanging out with Chat Noir, one-on-one.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And you let me sweat it out for ten minutes after I told you I hung out with Chat one-on-one before you told me it was fine.”

Chat raised his eyebrows at Ladybug’s accusatory look. “What?” He said. “It was funny! You would have done the same.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, letting out a cute huff. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”

“Well, yeah, actually.”

Ladybug raised an eyebrow.

“On your birthday, when you were drunk, you kissed me as Chat, but called me Adrien. I don’t think you remember.”

“I did _what?”_

* * *

“Hello everyone, my name is Adrien Agreste, and we’re in my dining room… again!” Adrien chuckled. “Today, I’m with my girlfriend, Mari, and we’ll be doing a special video today, to celebrate two things! Firstly, Mari released an awesome Ladybug-themed clothing collection the other day, which is linked in the description – and secondly, it’s Heroes Week next week! That means a special week full of parades, competitions and games, with a special march at the end of the week! So, what better way to celebrate than to dress up as our favourite superheroes!”

Marinette smiled. “I dibs Chat Noir.”

Adrien looked over. “I’ll be Ladybug, then. Can you pass the outfit?”

Adrien left the room to go change – a red shirt, black jeans with red thread and a thick polka-dotted strip down the side, and a jacket that was a maroon-colour on the outside, but was lined with signature Ladybug polka-dots on the soft fabric inside. When he came back, Marinette was narrating to the camera as she did herself some smoky eye makeup.

“And _then _I gave him the pencil, but it went wrong, and I was stuck with Chat Noir in this box!” She said, pulling slightly at one of her eyelids to do an eyeliner wing. “But we found a way out, and Ladybug and Chat Noir saved the day! So, yeah – not to brag, but I’ve met Chat Noir.” She finished, pulling back and inspecting her work. “Adrien!” She said as she noticed him. “What do you think of my makeup?”

She looked sexy as hell, but he had children that watched his videos, so he instead said, “very Chat-Noir-esque. What about me?”

He stepped back into frame, taking a seat and displaying the jacket’s inner polkadots, which were really starting to grown on him. “Very Ladybug-esque,” she teased.

“Good.” He said. “Because I love Ladybug. She’s like, my number 1 celebrity crush.”

Marinette snorted from besides him, and Adrien couldn’t help chuckling himself at the absurdity of his words. “I like Ladybug, too,” she said. “Actually, she was my bisexual awakening.”

Adrien chuckled. “Really? What about Chat Noir, then?”

“Super hot.” She said. “If we weren’t dating, I’d shoot my shot with him.”

“Same,” Adrien said, causing Marinette to laugh harder. “I mean, all that leather…”

“Yeah, when the two of them wear skintight suits, they’re doing Paris a favour,” Marinette chuckled. “Hot damn. Anyway, I’m going to get changed. I actually did a Chat Noir collection before Ladybug, so I’ll be wearing some stuff from that.”

She left the room, and Adrien decided he’d cut out Marinette’s cackles as she walked away.

* * *

_Why are they laughing??? Is there some inside joke???_

_SO CUTEEE WILL THEY BE AT THE PARADE???_

_When mari said lb was her bisexual awakening,,, I felt that_

_THEY’RE DOING PARIS A FAVOUR ODGHFEJOD IM DEAD_

_What’s funny hahahah we want to know 2_

_Marinette is honestly so talented!! Like she made all of those clothes, and they don’t look too tacky, but still are cleary superhero-related!! So much talent_

_Y’all check twitter apparently shit’s going down_

_OMG ADRIEN AND MARI SLEPT WITH LB AND CN???_

_#thatfoursome ayyyy_

_Im a bit late but #thatfoursome is the best thing ever_

_Shouldn’t #thatfoursome be #thatfursome ,,, u know,,, coz chat noir is a cat and cats have fur,,, no??? im gonna go now haha_

_WOW THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE BEING SUBTLE WITH THIS VID HUH WELL WE KNOW ;)_

_Such a cute video!!!_

_This video was too short :( I love their chemistry but I want moreee_

_This is like my favourite piece of drama I’ve ever been a part of #thatfoursome_

_#thatfoursome is WILD I love ittt_

_Can u imagine managing to get Adrien Agreste, Chat Noir AND Ladybug though??? Mari is so blessed #thatfoursome_

_EXCUSE ME MARI IS JUST AS HOT AS ALL OF THEM AND THEY’RE ALL BLESSED TO HAVE SLEPT WITH HER AS WELL_

_Wait they slept together??? Or did they just like go on a double date and decide they wanted to be poly_

_ARE THEY POLY OR ARE THEY F**KING_

_you guys stop casually talking about his sex life, 1. that's private and 2. he's literally an 18 y/o kid and this is harassment, gtfo_

_YEAH HE'S STILL A PERSON & HE DESERVES RESPECT_

_The volume in here is ASTRONOMICAL #thatfoursome_

_Y’all this vid is literally trending because of #thatfoursome on twitter spoifjhnekdofj_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THEY KNOW THEY KNOW THIS IS NOT A DRILL


	18. heroes day, gymnastics, and a whole lot of trolling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heroes Day comes! Marinette, Ladybug, Adrien AND Chat Noir need to be there...
> 
> Or, our faves have a LOT of fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, thinking this fic isn't that long: :D  
my word doc: surprise bitch you're at 50k words
> 
> in other news, this is the longest fic/thing i've ever written,,, and it'll probably hit 50k next chap, which is also when the rest of the stuff... hits. for now, though, enjoy this!

Heroes Day arrived a little early, for Adrien’s taste. Of course, he’d been fully prepared for it _before _the whole… fiasco (which is what Marinette was calling it as she lay on his couch, cackling and reading through the tweets that were still trending, three days after the theory surfaced) – except now he had publicity to think about on a whole other level.

He’d tried to contact his previous publisher (his father’s publisher) once, but had been assaulted with a flurry of emails demanding he returned home, from Gabriel Agreste’s personal email (surprising – he figured Nathalie would have been the one doing Gabriel’s dirty work for this, too.) So, he was without a publisher, and probably more in the public eye than he’d ever been before.

Well, that last part may have been a lie – he had always been pretty in the public eye, as an ex-supermodel turned YouTuber.

Marinette had all but moved in with him under the guise of decorating his bedroom (which she’d completed, and they’d filmed his reaction for, but he was still unable to film in there until he released the video… and Marinette still hadn’t vacated.) He had gotten used to waking up to her light snores, making himself a coffee and laughing as she stumbled out of the bedroom, eyes closed, and fell over the poorly placed sofa every time without fail. She’d made him breakfast the first few nights of her staying over, but he’d assured her that if she wanted cereal in the morning, she didn’t have to cook for him, too.

He’d actually tried cereal that she’d brought over for the first time – and didn’t really get the hype of soggy slush with milk. Marinette chastised him, saying that he’d waited too long to eat it after pouring the milk, but she hadn’t offered him one of those colourful ones with the marshmallows that he’d read was famous in the US, and probably detrimental to your health.

He’d also had to reassure her, a lot, that she was not overstaying her welcome. Marinette was a welcome warmth in his apartment – it was a little big for one person.

Google, over the past week, had been his best friend; they still went to school (of course, all of that was ending soon, which brought a bittersweet taste into Adrien’s mouth) but he spent every moment _not _with her researching where their relationship could possibly go next. In every movie he’d ever seen, they ended with the ‘I love you’ – where did the relationship go next?

Right now it was perfect. Living with his Lady (sometimes – her parents still got worried) and not modelling, doing a job he liked, set up to go to university in the fall, ready for exam season and whatever that brought, being so perfectly in love with his girlfriend.

He couldn’t propose. They were eighteen, for christ’s sake – and although their love was old, their _relationship _was new. He knew he wanted to get married to her… but not yet. Now, they’d have what Alya had been calling their ‘honeymoon’ phase when he’d asked her for advice after 3 hours of staring at a reddit thread on relationship advice.

He’d talked to her a lot in the past week, actually – starting with the claims that brought him to (more recent) fame. “Because, if you _had _slept with Ladybug and Chat Noir, I’m your friend first, and a reporter second,” she’d said over the phone. “This conversation is totally off the record.”

Adrien looked over to his front door, where Mari had left no less than an hour ago for dinner with her family. “Ask Marinette,” he’d responded.

Eventually, her advice went from, “you’re in your honeymoon phase – enjoy it!” to “if you _do _feel that spark fading, I’m pretty sure a foursome with two superheroes would really spice things back up… be it a repeat or not.” And, eventually, her hassling brought him to his current situation.

Originally, their plans had been to march in the parade for a while as Marinette and Adrien, waving greetings to the crowd, showing their support for the superheroes and ignoring all the fan-questions that centred around more… recent topics. Marinette had sat down to plan it with him when she realized it wasn’t just a thing they could laugh off; they had to be _sneaky _now.

So, they’d settled on making very public appearances as both their civilian selves, and their superhero counterparts. Ladybug and Chat Noir, although welcomed all day, were only actually needed for the speech they gave every year near the end of the celebrations, in the early evening, when it was dark enough that they could shoot the green and red fireworks in celebration. So, by a process of deduction, Marinette and Adrien could make their appearances in the daylight, before ‘dropping out’ for a late lunch, using the excuse that they’d decided to avoid the paparazzi and disappeared back into the crowd, giving Chat Noir and Ladybug enough time to roam free that Parisians could suspect that they’d been there all along.

Except, it was lunch time, and the ‘marching’ had gotten busy, and they couldn’t escape the barrage of questions. He’d given out so many autographs his wrist was starting to get sore, and his cheeks ached from holding a smile for so long. Marinette was a grounding force besides him, holding his bag as he took photos with fans, and his hand as they navigated through the crowd. So far, they’d only run into fans, but there was a large group of reporters that hadn’t spotted them yet.

“What do you think?” Marinette said into his ear, one of her whiskers smudged slightly. “Should we answer honestly, or give them a bit of a show?”

Adrien looked to the group. “Go wild, My Lady. I trust you – and our claims can’t exactly be denied by the superheroes.”

Marinette grinned, squeezing his hand as the reporters saw them. “Adrien Agreste! Marinette Dupain-Cheng!” They began calling, moving themselves and their equipment in to get a closer vantage point. “Can we ask you a few questions?”

“Sure,” Adrien smiled good-naturedly, stepping out of the crowd so as not to block the people still marching.

“How are you feeling today?”

“Good,” Adrien said airily. “It’s always great to show support for Paris’s superheroes – on Heroes day, or in public displays like this.”

“Are you aware of the popular rumour that states that you and your girlfriend have had relations with Paris’s two main superheroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

Adrien chuckled. “Yes, actually. I saw that trending on twitter, I believe?”

“Can you tell us whether there are any truth behind these rumours?”

He looked over to Marinette, who was smiling at the reporter. “Unfortunately not,” she said, looking genuinely upset, “but we’d be open to it, if Ladybug or Chat Noir ever wanted to… hit us up.” She winked softly, before stepping closer to Adrien and grinning. Adrien was chuckling silently, trying to stop the shaking of his chest even as Marinette turned her face into his shoulder to hide her own giggles.

After a few more questions, Adrien excused the two of them, and they wandered away from the crowds, looking for a good place to eat. “You’re evil,” he said.

“Hey; I didn’t come up with the theory,” Marinette said. “I’m just doing your fans a favour. They’re liking this, aren’t they?”

With a playful roll of his eyes, they turned into a small café. “I love you,” he said.

“I love you, too,” she responded, pecking his cheek. “Your bandana is falling out.”

He took it out, re-tying it as he watched Marinette reapply eyeliner to her nose. “You’re gonna keep wearing that?” He asked.

“Why not?” She responded, looking up from her phone-mirror. “The suit will get rid of it when I transform.”

“…Will it?”

Marinette paused. “I mean – I think so? It always does my hair for me when we have a night akuma.”

“You mean if Tikki hadn’t been so efficient, I would’ve got to see your bedhead?”

She reached over the table to give his arm a soft shove. “You would _not _want to see my bedhead.”

“I already have,” he teased. “And it’s _beautiful.”_

“Yeah, yeah, you silly flirt.” Marinette picked up a menu. “Ooh, they’re doing a Heroes Week menu! Maybe I should get a Ladybug lasagne. Damn, that’s some good alliteration.”

Adrien’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Wouldn’t that be cannibalism?”

“Fair point; maybe I should get the Chat Noir salad.”

Adrien knew from the quirk of one of her eyebrows that she meant that somewhat suggestively, but as he picked up the menu, taking a look himself, he couldn’t help but say, “they think I’m a _salad?”_

“Aww, kitty,” Marinette said. “Want me to kiss it better?”

Adrien’s eyes scanned more of the menu. “Rena Rouge gets to be a pizza! And I’m a salad?”

“A Caesar salad, Adrien. You get a good dressing and some chicken.”

“Is it because it’s green? Because there are a _lot _of green foods.”

Marinette skimmed more of the menu. “But Carapace is a different type of salad. Does a Caesar have, like, black olives or something?”

“Chloe gets to be an omelette! I’m not a salad! I’m highly calorific, and cheesy, and hot. How do you make a salad hot?”

Marinette patted his arm comfortingly. “If it helps, they’re doing Chat Noir chocolate pudding, so you can have that after the salad.”

Adrien shook his head. “I’m getting a Ladybug lasagne.”

“Alright,” Marinette said, looking back to the menu. “Woah, look! They’re doing smoothies, too!”

* * *

Two hours later left them enough time to digest, relax (Ladybug), catch a bit of shut-eye (Chat) and prepare to be seen by the general public. As they’d been doing for the past few years, Ladybug and Chat Noir made their entrance extravagantly – by doing stunts on Parisian rooftops.

It was always only a matter of time before somebody spotted them, posted about it, and got them a large crowd. For now, though, Adrien was watching as Mari tried to do a triple backflip – again.

“I could do it last week,” she groaned. “It’s all this pizza in my stomach. I feel queasy if I do anything more than a double.”

Chat looked to the roof she was flipping onto. “I think it’s higher up than the one we tried this on last week. You don’t have as much jumping time.”

“Yeah, but if I do it like this, I can land like Spiderman, on one knee. It looks cooler.”

“It also hurts. Out of the way.”

Ladybug obliged, taking a few steps back, giving Adrien the space to do an aeriel from one roof to the other, letting out a loud whoop as he landed on both his feet.

Ladybug crossed her arms. “I can do that one.”

“I know you can, My Lady,” he said, walking over to place a peck on her cheek. “I just find it fun. Now do you want to see my baton-walking act? I’ve been working on it.”

He placed his baton on the side of the building, outstretching it until it rested on the other roof. “This is so unsafe,” said Ladybug, making her way over to the edge of the roof so she could sit. “You could fall.”

“Cats always land on their feet,” he defended, testing the baton with a harsh stamp. It didn’t give. “Plus, I have a super awesome yo-yo-wielding girlfriend to catch me.”

“Bold of you to assume I’ll catch you,” Ladybug said as he took his first step. He laughed, taking another.

Once he’d gotten a proper feel for his balance (six wobbly steps, a jump and a cartwheel of faith), he turned back to Ladybug, outstretching his arms proudly. “What do you think?” He said, walking casually over the pole (although his frantic tail showed his fight to keep balanced.) “Could I be in a circus?”

“I think we’re a little busy for that,” Ladybug responded.

Chat shrugged, before he did a backwards handspring, barely landing and having to hold his arms out to stay up. “I don’t know,” he continued, once he’d gotten hold of himself. “We don’t earn any money as superheroes. They’d be happy to take me.”

Ladybug snorted as Chat did a twirl. “You need money?” She asked.

“Maybe I do,” he responded, placing a sassy hand to his hip. “You don’t know my monetary position.”

“Right, right, excuse me,” she said, standing from her seat. “I thought you were supposed to impress me.”

“I am impressive!” He defended. “Watch this.”

Chat walked to one rooftop, before doing a series of flips to travel across the beam. He ended with an extravagant backflip that landed him on the rooftop next to his Lady, panting slightly and looking like the epitome of glee.

Cheers and clapping from below let them know they finally had an audience. Chat retracted his baton, bowing and waving good-naturedly. “You found us!” He called, when the cheering died down.

“You’re trending!” A fan called back. “On twitter!”

Chat gulped in a breath of air, nodding. _Made sense. _“How are you all today?”

They cheered in response, as if he were some DJ at a party. He looked over to Ladybug.

“Will we see you all at the fireworks tonight?” She asked. They whooped again.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir!” Another fan called. “What do you think about Adrien Agreste?”

They exchanged a glance. Ladybug’s lips quirked.

“He’s a really cool guy,” Ladybug said.

A few cheers. Most of their ‘fans’ turned to Chat. He cupped his hands around his mouth, yelling as loud as he could, “I love his videos! I’m a superfan!”

Ladybug laughed as the fans called out from below, in shock and laughter. “No more questions for today,” she said. “We have to go prepare for our speech!”

They waved, and Adrien smiled as all the civilians waved back enthusiastically. “I’m a superfan?” Ladybug asked as they made their way across the rooftop. “Are you trying to make them go crazy?”

“Says you, miss ‘if they ever want to hit us up.’ We’re adding fuel to the fire.”

“Good,” she said, pecking his cheek softly. “It’s fun. Your fans are a little crazy – very amusing.”

Before he could protest, she’d yo-yo’ed away, leaving him to chase after her.

* * *

**call me, beep me @TheLadyblogger** **✓**

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT: Ladybug and Chat Noir spotted before their speech commenting on the #thatfoursome fiasco. More on my website www.theladyblog.co...

18.1k Retweets 45k Likes 11.1k Comment

** **

** _\- - -_ **

**His ARMS @justastan**

‘i’m a superfan’ my ass mister chat noir you’re in LOVE

19.3k Retweets 22k Likes 468 Comments

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

I would be upset for LB but she’s in on that 2 so it’s ok

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

KISS KISS FALL IN LOVE

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

Broooo,,,, the accuracy

** _\- - -_ **

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

Ok so let’s get this debate over with; which side of #thatfoursome has the best dynamics?? For me, it’s #Adrienette: they basically grew up together and fell in love over like 6 years and that shit is ROMANTIC AF #thatfoursome

22.1k Retweets 36.9k Likes 14.2k Comments

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

** #**Ladrien is the ‘we both have a crush on each other but are too shy to make a move’ dynamic tho which I LOVE

**His ARMS @justastan**

** #**Maribug 4 the win,,, 1 side is she was ur gay awakening and the other is she’s the #1 civilian u want to protect im SOFT

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

** #**Marichat used to be my shit but #Maribug is that but gay so it wins,,, sorry chat noir

**Call me, beep me @TheLadyblogger****✓**

People are tagging me in this as if my answer won’t be #ladynoir for life <3 what about u?? **@OfficialMDC ****✓** **@AdrienAgreste ****✓**

**I have a youtube channel** **@AdrienAgreste ****✓**

I love all sides, but dynamics-wise,,, #adrichat 4 life <3

**I put the hot in thoT @OfficialMDC ****✓**

Adrien sweetheart ur enemies to lovers preference is showing

**I put the hot in thoT @OfficialMDC ****✓**

But also mine is #ladynoir 2

** _\- - -_ **

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Imagine coming onto Twitter and seeing that Adrien has an enemies to lovers complex (him and Chat Noir were enemies to lovers??) and marinette DC is apparently a voyeur??? All in one session??? I gotta go lie down

33.1k Retweets 104.8k Likes 27.9k Comments

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

Honey take ur medication and hydrate <3 but also WHAT

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

WAIT HOW DO WE KNOW MARI’S A VOYEUR??

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Honey her fave part of her relationship doesn’t involve her,,, which means she likes watching,,,, which means,,,,, ;)

**His ARMS @justastan**

RIP to 8 days ago before #thatfoursome hit,,, when I could go a minute without thinking of adrien’s relationship,,, and my phone could go 2 seconds without blowing up because of this BITCH **@adrienismyreligion**

** Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

YOU LOVE ME & ALL MY TWEETS ARE TOTALLY VALID

**His ARMS @justastan**

Maybe,,, but this is a whole new level of fuckery

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

LMAOOOO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yaaaay another chapter and it's getting more and more unbelievably stupid ;)
> 
> also, i just wanted to say thank you again for all the kind comments, kudos and hits on this fic!! i checked my stats the other day and saw that this literally has 350+ subscriptions, which means that over 350 emails are sent out every time i upload a chapter (and 350 of you like my writing, hehe) so THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!


	19. more talk, and they attend a gala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things escalate. Marinette and Adrien attend a public event - and things _really_ escalate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slightly longer chap!!! buckle in for this one, folks - we're getting near to the end, and some stuff happens.
> 
> enjoy!!!

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Calling it now – if the superheroes (LB, CN, Rena, Carapace & Queen Bee) are in a poly relationship, and LB and CN have ‘dated’ Marinette & Adrien, then technically Marinette and Adrien have kissed every superhero.

12.1k Retweets 26.9k Likes 2.4k Comments

**Ladybuuuuug @green_black**

Woah way to bring the #polyheroes fandom into this

**His ARMS @justastan**

EJFKODJE THAT’S A THING???

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Uh duh that’s why I brought it up

**Ladybuuuuug @green_black**

We’ve been here since season 2 honey xo

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

Uh what??

**Chat noir has a secret stan twitter @fightme_plz**

Haha nothing

** _\- - - _ **

** **

** **

**Chat noir has a secret stan twitter @fightme_plz**

I would just like to officially welcome the #adrienette twitter and thank them for bringing us into the well-deserved light after 3 years of being silenced #polyheroes #thatfoursome

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

This gets wilder and wilder every day huh

**Ladybuuuuug @green_black**

We’ve been lying in wait,,, but if we band together,,,

** _\- - - _ **

**His ARMS @justastan**

NEW #thatfoursome info/theory!!! So Adrien said he and Chat had an ‘enemies to lovers complex’ but my theory is that Adrien taught Chat Noir how to fence (adrien fences in his private life, and Chat fenced in this akuma attack) so they were RIVALS???

22.6k Retweets 41k Likes 14.3k Comments

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Ok this is DEFO the best dynamic of #thatfoursome then

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

BRO PLZ SOMEONE DRAW THIS I CAN’T

** _\- - - _ **

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

Petition for Adrien and Mari to do another fanfic reacts video because in the past 2 weeks, fanfic has upped its game, and we need more #thatfoursome content

67k Retweets 121.9k Likes 24.5k Comments

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

The fandom is THRIVING

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Plus the more they publicly talk about it, the less subtle they get lmaoo

* * *

“We are _not _doing a video with Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Marinette pouted as she moved around his kitchen. “But why not? I could use mirage – you wouldn’t even have to be in the video, if we just used a script!”

His eyes diverted from the laptop in front of him to Marinette’s pleading look, and he shook his head. “You’re having too much fun with this.”

Placing two pieces of bread in the toaster, Marinette shook her head. “It’s not _too much,” _she said, pressing the bread down, “if it’s still funny.”

“But Mari,” he groaned, placing his head on his hand. “We’re bad at keeping secrets. We’ve barely restrained them from learning our identities. If the theories keep up, they’ll figure it out! We have to just… let it die down.”

“I’m with Adrien,” Tikki said from her spot on the counter, nibbling on a cookie Marinette had made the evening before. “You two knowing each other’s identities is a risk as it is. Humans in this time are… strange.”

Marinette laughed at that. “Well, I bet Plagg would agree with me.”

“Well, it’s a good thing Plagg’s sleeping.” Adrien looked back at his laptop. “Ugh. _History.”_

“Aww, is mister hot-shot struggling with his studies?” Asked Marinette, walking around the counter to place a kiss to his forehead. “You’re doing history?”

“It’s my least favourite,” he explained as her arms snaked their way around his shoulders. “I figured I’d get it out of the way first.”

“If you don’t like it, why did you take it?”

“Because not all of us are artistically gifted, like you. I needed a humanity – and geography would have been even worse.”

Plagg wandered – or rather, floated – out of Adrien’s bedroom, eyes wide. “Do I smell cheese?”

“Halloumi,” Marinette nodded, standing and removing her arms (leaving Adrien with a sore absence of heat around his shoulders) to make her way to the grill. “We don’t have any camembert – but I heard you’re a fan of this one, too?”

Plagg trilled happily – a sound Adrien had only head a few times over the many years in which he’d had Plagg – before he picked up a piece of the piping-hot cheese, downing it in one.

“Wait,” Adrien said softly, “you’re saying all these years, I could have been carrying around _halloumi, _and you would have been satisfied? I didn’t have to smell like a back-alley dumpster?”

“I do prefer camembert,” Plagg said. “Also, I agree with Marinette. Make the video, kid!”

“I’m not-“ Adrien groaned over-exaggeratedly, trying not to preen at the giggle it drew out of Marinette. “We’re not making the video.”

“Fine,” Marinette pouted, before the toast popped out of the toaster. “Your loss.”

* * *

“Hello everyone! My name is Adrien Agreste, and we’re in my bedroom! Of course, for you, it’ll be blurred, because I haven’t yet released the house tour with all the new rooms – but I was so sick of filming in the dining room, and this room has all my lights set up. As you’ve probably seen by the title, I’m doing a get ready with me; event edition. Basically, I have a gala-type thing I have to go to, so I’ll be showing you guys bits and bobs of that!”

He cleared his throat. “It feels kind of weird to just be speaking to myself after so many videos with other people. Anyway, I’ll pin back my hair, and get started on the makeup!”

* * *

“Mari, you look amazing.”

Adrien was sitting in the Dupain-Cheng’s living room, half talking to the camera about this and that (footage he would probably edit out) and half waiting for Marinette to finish getting ready. This was one of the last things he was ‘required’ to do – and if he was going to do it, he would really like his girlfriend to be there with him. Plus, if anything went wrong, he could always rely on her to kick some serious ass in his honour.

She’d come down, surprising him as she stepped into frame behind him, and it had taken everything in him not to drop the camera the same way his jaw hit the floor. Her dress was long, and soft, and a deep blue that both matched her eyes and contrasted them enough that they seemed to shine. Her hair, which was out, looked so soft in little ringlets that framed her face like a crown.

“You look really good, too,” she said with a smile, kissing his cheek softly. Adrien pouted, and she pecked his lips with a giggle. “What were you saying?”

Adrien looked to the camera. “Nothing,” he said. “It’s not important. Are you ready… My Lady?”

“Always,” she said, taking his outstretched arm. He turned off the camera, leading her downstairs.

* * *

Holding his phone with a vice-like grip, Adrien walked around the hall. He’d gotten out of the limo, posing for photos with Marinette, using her hand as something to grip; she’d squeeze, and a wave of comfort would wash over him, knowing she was there. After the press was sated, they’d gone in – and he’d been hit with the familiarity of it all. Had it really only been a month, maybe two, since he’d left all of this behind?

After making polite hello’s as they found a small table, Marinette excused herself to grab them both a drink. That left Adrien smiling awkwardly at people he once knew; people who no-doubt had heard his father’s twisted version of events. He’d done all he could at the table – filmed small bits for a montage he wanted to include in his video, name the designer of every suit and dress he saw - he even played a game of majhong, to pass the time. But he had to do something. If he stayed too long, people would start to talk, and they’d lead his father right too him.

As impossible a task as it was, Adrien did _not _want to talk to his father tonight. Nathalie, maybe (a few pleasantries wouldn’t hurt) – and Gideon, his bodyguard, because he’d always been nice to Adrien.

The background music was a saving grace; almost dulled by the thrum of chatter, and yet it carried over to Adrien’s seat. He’d always thought the music at these sorts of things was a waste. It was always beautiful, and yet nobody danced to it.

“Adrien?” He turned to see Marinette, a kind smile on her face and an outstretched champagne chute in her hand. “Want to walk with me, say hello to a few people?”

He nodded, and stood, linking their arms. “Do we have to say hello?” He asked as Marinette led them easily around the room, and the clusters of people making polite conversation.

“Don’t you have a few model-friends? People that aren’t total trash? Like – like that Elise girl, who everybody thought you were dating for, like, a year.”

Adrien smiled softly. “I forget, sometimes, that you had an obsessive crush on me for the better part of five years.”

Marinette leant into him as they walked slightly so he almost stumbled, letting out a giggle. “It was not _obsessive!” _She said defensively. “Besides, you flirted intensely with me for five years straight.”

“Still do, My Lady,” he said, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it. “Alright. I’ll greet some people.”

Greet he did – photographers he’d worked with, designers that had offered him jobs, but his Father had always turned down, and a _lot _of models he’d worked with. Marinette stood with him all the while, introducing herself to those who didn’t know her, and squealing every time she met one of her idols. Eventually Marinette excused herself again (she said something about wanting to rest her feet, but Adrien expected it was more that she didn’t want to intrude as he talked to one of his best model-friends (her name was Celeste, she was 4 years his senior, and always had a wise word to give him.))

“I didn’t think you’d be here,” said Celeste, sipping on a drink that, knowing her, was highly alcoholic. “With all the damage control your father’s been doing – you really caused a stir, by the way.”

Adrien smiled half-heartedly, swapping his empty champagne glass for a full one as a waiter walked past. “Good,” he said, taking a small sip. “He deserves it.”

“Cheers to that,” she said, clinking her glass with his. “You know, I never said it to you before, but I never liked your father. I mean, what kind of man doesn’t go to his own fashion shows? I thought he was just really conceited, but… he’s a horrible father, too!”

Adrien chuckled. “Well, I’m managing just fine without him.”

“I’m glad.” Her eyes met his, and he could see the earnesty in them. “Listen, Adrien – you ever need anything; money, a place to crash for the night, a crap ton of alcohol, you come to me, alright? I consider you a good friend that got dealt a bad card in life. And no questions asked, if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“I consider you a friend, too,” Adrien said with a smile. “And alright. You know you can always come to me, right?”

Celeste laughed. “Adrien, I pay for the best therapists in all of Paris. I doubt I’d need to vent my problems to a teenage boy. But I appreciate the offer – you still have my phone number?”

“Yeah,” Adrien said. They fell into a comfortable silence, listening to the music. He’d filmed them a little for his video – a quartet. Music like this, played freely, for enjoyment, made his fingers itch to play himself. Maybe he could get a piano (although he had no clue how he’d get it into his apartment.)

“Your girlfriend seems nice,” Celeste said, causing Adrien to look back over to her. She pointed at Marinette, who had sat down and immediately been approached by Iris Golderva, a fashion designer Adrien had worked with a few times.

“Yeah,” Adrien said, watching as Marinette smiled with Iris. “She’s great.”

“She makes you happy?” Celeste asked. Adrien nodded. “Good. Well, maybe you should dance with her – fulfil your dreams.”

Adrien’s eyes widened. “I told you I wanted to dance at one of these things?”

“Oh, yes.” Celeste chuckled. “Asked me to dance with you, at the tender age of eleven. I said no, and you seemed so upset. You don’t remember?”

Adrien shook his head. Most of his childhood had passed in a blur of being overworked – there had been so much he had to do, he felt like he never got to remember any of it.

“Oh well,” Celeste tipped back her drink, downing the final contents in one gulp. “I will go and get another drink. I’ve been meaning to chat up Oliver Florell, too – that man is _too _fine. Maybe we will see you dance with your girlfriend?”

Adrien smiled. “Maybe.”

Celeste disappeared, and Adrien began making his way back to Marinette, who was still talking animatedly with Iris. She spotted him and her smile widened, just for him. “I trust you know my boyfriend, then?”

Iris stood, shaking Adrien’s hand. “Such a pleasure to see you again!” She said with a genuine smile. “I must say, I’m a huge fan of your channel. But you should stick to modelling, ah?”

With a polite chuckle, Iris excused herself to go and talk to somebody else, leaving Adrien with his girlfriend. “How are you feeling?” She asked, taking his hands in hers as she leant into him.

“Good,” he said honestly. “Well, better.”

“I’m glad,” she said. “You have more champagne?”

They both looked to the glass Adrien had abandoned to shake Iris’s hand, on the table. “Father never let me drink,” Adrien said, “and I didn’t really want to. But champagne is ok – and it’s better than standing there with nothing.”

Marinette nodded. “You make a good point. One day, we can try a bunch of cocktails, figure out which ones taste nice. I’ve never really liked beer.”

“Do you want to dance?” Adrien asked, pulling Marinette’s eyes from the table. They skimmed the room.

“Nobody else is dancing.”

“People rarely do.”

“You want to dance?”

Adrien nodded, betraying himself when a smile started to bloom. Marinette looked at his lips, her own smile breaking through. “Alright,” she said. “Let’s dance.”

He led her to the middle of the room, where there were less people, and the music was slightly louder. “Have you ever slow danced before, My Lady?” He asked, placing his hands around her waist.

“Have you?” She challenged, arms resting on his shoulders.

He nodded. “I had lessons as a child, and a refresher course when I had to do it for a perfume advert.” He chuckled. “I was never very good at it, though. I don’t like watching that advert.”

People had stopped talking – looking their way. He ignored it. “Oh,” said Marinette, fingers clasping together at the back of his neck, “I remember that. What was the perfume? Lauve?”

“Love,” he corrected. “You knew that – miss stalker.”

“Hey,” she poked the back of his neck, and he shied away from the touch slightly, snickering. “Don’t call me out on that. I thought we agreed we were as embarrassing as each other?”

“I didn’t memorise the words to your perfume advert.”

“I didn’t buy every piece of your merchandise including bedsheets, pyjamas, blankets, phone cases, _underwear-“_

“Because Adrien Agreste underwear wasn’t a thing!” Adrien defended. “Come on; you know you totally would have bought it if it existed. Besides… you designed an entire clothing collection off of Chat Noir.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “There’s no winning with you, huh, kitty?” She said, pecking his cheek fondly. “You’re so competitive.”

“Says you!” Adrien laughed. The song slowed, coming to an end. “Hey, let me twirl you.”

She took the hand he outstretched, spinning her slowly and taking the chance to pull her in even closer. “I almost forgot,” Marinette said into his shoulder. “One of us is a diehard closet romantic. And it’s not me.”

The song ended, and Adrien pulled away. “You tease me so, Bugaboo,” he placed a hand over his heart. “But our love prevails.”

“Nerd,” Marinette smiled. “Now give me your hand.”

He outstretched it. “Why?”

“Because your hand isn’t holding mine.”

“Oh, of course,” Adrien said with a light laugh. _He _was the romantic.

* * *

A few dances later (Celeste and that model she was chatting up joined them at some point, and that prompted a few other couples to begin dancing) found Marinette and Adrien sitting back at their little table. “Look,” said Marinette. “You’ve started a trend.”

“Yeah,” he said, fiddling with his phone. He wanted to film a few more pieces for his montage – and Marinette, looking like the _vision _she was, was something he most definitely wanted to immortalise on film. “Smile,” he said, bringing the phone up to her face.

Marinette wasn’t smiling. Instead, her eyes were fixed on something over Adrien’s shoulder.

“Adrien,” a familiar voice said, tone dripping coldly. “We have things to discuss.”

“Father,” Adrien sighed, turning around. His hand, holding the phone, fell to his lap. “I don’t think we have anything to discuss.”

Gabriel’s jaw clenched slightly, but the rest of his face made no movement to give away his irritation. “We should not talk about this in public. Come with me – we can talk like adults.”

“No,” Adrien said. “I don’t owe you anything – if you would like to talk to me, do it here.”

Gabriel sighed as if he were exhausted by the situation. He could practically feel the tension in waves, coming off of Marinette – and was sure he was in the same situation. But after years of practice, it was second nature to calm his face into that of peaceful indifference as his eyes met the steel-grey of his father’s.

“I would disagree when you say you owe me nothing,” Gabriel said. “I did raise you.”

“You did?” Adrien asked. “Because, from what I remember of my childhood, I was raised by Nathalie, Gideon, and Mother. I barely saw you, Father. How can you raise me if you’re not there?”

“Adrien,” anger seeped into his voice slightly, tainting it. “I will not yell at you in front of my associates, but this has gone too far. Your childish games have not only put my reputation at stake, but the entire _Gabriel _company. You will stop this petty bout of rebellion, take down your YouTube videos about buying an apartment, and move back in.”

“Why?” Adrien asked. “I’m a legal adult now, and I never signed any contracts that say I owe you work, or to live with you, or anything like that. I don’t have to do anything for you.”

“I can cut you off, Adrien,” Gabriel said. “Don’t make me.”

“Go ahead,” Adrien responded. “I make my own living off of those YouTube videos you hate. I don’t need anything from you – you have no power over me.”

His Father seemed to mull over the words for a few seconds, his frown deepening, before he turned and walked away. Adrien let out a breath, only daring to look away after his Father had crossed half the room.

Marinette took his hand, rubbing his thumb comfortingly. “You were so strong,” she said. “I’m so proud of you.”

“You think?” Adrien let out a deprecating laugh. “I… I knew we had to talk, but… wow. Did he really just try to blackmail me into moving back in with him, and working for him again?”

Instead of answering, she used her other hand to trap his, pulling it up so she could place a tender kiss to the pad of his finger. He shot her a grateful smile.

“Do you want to go?” Marinette said. “We don’t have to stay. And now that _he’s _here, if you don’t feel like you can relax, I wouldn’t mind…”

“No,” Adrien said. “Let’s stay. I shouldn’t run scared every time I see him publicly. He shouldn’t ruin our night.”

He looked down to his phone. “Oh,” he said softly. “This is still recording.”

Marinette looked at his phone as he raised it to re-capture her in the shot. “There,” he said. “Now the video has something good in it.”

She rolled her eyes, freeing her hands from his to shove at his shoulder, which was just out of reach. “You’re so cheesy,” she chuckled.

“Adrien,” his face dropped at his father’s voice and he put the phone face-down on the table to look at his father again.

“What?”

“Put your phone away. Even if you’re being stupid and reckless, you shouldn’t act like that in a public gathering. You reflect badly on me.”

Adrien sighed. “Father, I don’t care. I’m not associated with you anymore. I’m filming because it’s my job now, and you can’t bully me into stopping.”

“You think this is bullying?” Gabriel laughed softly, the sound hollow. “Adrien, you are my son, but I can _ruin _you. You dare to speak up against me in public like this? To add fuel to the rumours that I _‘abused’ _you? I have built you from the ground up, and supported you for eighteen years - and yet you think you can treat me like I’m some trash you can jus throw away? I can have you blacklisted by every designer in the industry – I can make sure you never get to go to university in this country. Don’t you _dare _ever speak back to me.”

Although he tried to hide it, Gabriel was trembling with anger when he finished spitting out his speech. Adrien thought he’d feel something like fear at the threats, but instead… he was feeling angry, too.

“Do whatever you want, Father,” Adrien said. “You just can’t accept that I don’t need you – you were a horrible father – and it’s not my fault the rest of the world is finally finding out about it-“

He stopped, because his father slapped him.

Picking up his head (years as a superhero had taught him how to take a beating), he glared at his father with all the malice he’d held back. “Goodbye, father,” he said, grabbing his phone and Marinette’s hand. “I really hope I don’t see you again. Oh, and good luck with the reporters outside.”

And with that, he left his father standing there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MY BABY ADRIEN <3 gabriel done fucked up tho i hope he gets #cancelled


	20. media

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not even going to lie to you, i am insanely proud of this chapter. i hope you enjoy it <3

_\--BREAKING NEWS--_

_Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng were few of the many famous couples that attended the Annual Fashion Gala this year, but they made a speedy exit several hours before the night came to a close. Reporters didn’t manage to get a statement from either of them – but several witnesses came forwards._

_“Gabriel Agreste slapped his son,” one witness, who would like to remain anonymous, described. “One moment they were talking – and the next, he was being hit.” Another described the act as ‘sudden’ and ‘horrible’ – recalling the silence that broke out in the Gala after the heinous action._

_Support for the young model-turned-YouTuber has been huge amongst platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook – with the hashtag #CancelGabrielAgreste trending in over 5 countries. Fans have written about their “love” and support for Adrien, and how they are “disgusted” by the actions of his father._

_Adrien Agreste released a series of videos [link] about him moving out of the famous Agreste mansion and into his own apartment. Although neither he or his father has spoken to the public about reasons for Adrien moving out, what was once considered a natural path for Adrien to take as an adult may now have a completely different reasoning…_

_Both Adrien Agreste, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Gabriel Agreste have remained silent on this issue so far. But what do you think? Could Gabriel Agreste not have been as good of a father as we all thought he was? Are the witnesses lying? Will Gabriel Agreste really be ‘cancelled’?_

* * *

Blog Post: #63  
Title: GABRIEL AGRESTE IS SUCH A TOTAL DOUCHEBAG  
Published: 14/05

Ok, so was anybody going to come and tell me Gabriel Agreste hit his son, or was I supposed to find out when I woke up this morning to my mom saying the ‘YouTube boy I liked was on the news’??? (Because, FYI, that’s what happened.) Let me just say, I am PISSED. Capital P. Adrien Agreste is literally the sweetest himan being on the planet, and he gets this SLANDER??

Two words. Not. Fair.

Personally, I’m not really a fan of #CancelGabrielAgreste – I prefer #ArrestGabrielAgresteforchildabuse (for legal reasons, this is a JOKE.) I mean, really – who slaps their child?? Especially in public – and ESPECIALLY when there is no evidence of Adrien provoking Gabriel? I don’t know exactly what happened (obviously; I wasn’t there ☹.) BUT I do know that half the people at that Gala came forwards and talked to various reporters, and all of them had the same story – it was a sudden slap.

Oh my god, I can’t even – I’m fuming. This man!! Has the !! audacity !!! to slap adrien??? Nope. Not ok. Internet, I ask you now more than ever to stop supporting Gabriel Agreste. He does not deserve us – we shouldn’t pour our money down the drain, making a toxic man like him rich. I mean, he’s an adult! Even if he was really mad at Adrien, he shouldn’t slap him! I just… wow.

Also, support Adrien!! Watch the ads in his videos, leave him love in the comment sections of his videos. Support Marinette, too! She’s a perfect example of an amazing, new fashion designer that is in no way conceited and is super down-to-earth!! (And she does some bomb commissions, if you can afford them.)

So, yeah. Rant over. Stop supporting Gabriel Agreste. Signing off.

* * *

**Paris’ Main Source @WeeklyNewsFrance**

Gabriel Agreste; An Abuser? Read the full article https://www.weeklynewsfr...

71.3k Retweets 250.9k Likes 31.8k Comments

**Rock n’ roll, baby @TheJaggedStone ****✓**

Standing in support with **@AdrienAgreste **<3 #CancelGabrielAgreste

**Sing, Dance! @ItsClaraNightingale ****✓**

My whole team is sending all our love #CancelGabrielAgreste

** _\- - - _ **

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Adrien literally stayed silent about his ‘abuser’ even when he had such a huge platform, had to love ALONE with this man for 10+ years of his life, and Gabriel has the audacity to slap him publicly??? #CancelGabrielAgreste

36.7k Retweets 109k Likes 2.4k Comments

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

To all those ppl saying ‘cancel culture is toxic’ yes 99% of the time but some ppl go too far #CancelGabrielAgreste

**His ARMS @justastan**

Stop leaving mean comments for Adrien, he’s literally the victim

** _\- - - _ **

**Paris’ Main Source @WeeklyNewsFrance**

Adrien Agreste following in his father’s footsteps? Teen hasn’t been seen in public in 3 weeks – read more https://www.weeklynewsfr...

86.3k Retweets 301.2k Likes 17.4k Comments

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

It’s already been 3 weeks?? Hope ur proud, **@GabrielOfficial ****✓ **#CancelGabrielAgreste

** _\- - - _ **

**His ARMS @justastan**

Hoping **@AdrienAgreste ****✓** knows he’s loved and that he can take as long of a break as he needs <3 #CancelGabrielAgreste

12.1k Rewteets 57.2k Likes 982 Comments

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

Yes we love him loads <3333

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

I just wish we could know if he sees how much the internet loves & supports him rn

** _\- - - _ **

**Paris’ Main Source @WeeklyNewsFrance**

_Gabriel_’s stocks stop their steady decline one months after #CancelGabrielAgreste scandal – read full article https://www.weeklynewsfr...

91.1k Retweets 141.6k Likes 7.2k Comments

**Ladybuuuuug @green_black**

I stand with Adrien 100% but where is this energy when we find out these shops are using sweatshop workers & support stuff like anti-semitism, racism, sexism, etc… ???

**His ARMS @justastan**

YES EXACTLY KEEP THIS GOING AND DO YOUR RESEARCH WHERE YOU SHOP

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

What I think some of y’all don’t understand is that one month of Gabriel’s stocks declining a little isn’t going to ruin him – it barely makes a dent in his multi-million dollar net worth. KEEP UP #CancelGabrielAgreste

* * *

Blog Post: #68  
Title: GABRIEL AGRESTE IS SUCH A TOTAL DOUCHEBAG – PART 2  
Published: 04/06

So, if y’all are following this blog, you’re probably following the Adrien drama on both twitter and insta right now (mainly twitter: if you’re not, it’s basically being broadcast across every trashy network in France.) if you’re not’ here’s a brief recap:

It’s officially been a month (and 3 days) since Adrien was seen out in public. Marinette also hasn’t been seen. Their close friends (Nino, up-and-coming DJ, and Alya, Ladyblog owner) have not made any statements regarding their friends. The Gabriel official twitter hasn’t made a post since the Gala, either – although they keep putting out advertisements & working on their new collection (due to hit next month).

SO, what I’m getting at here, is that nobody knows anything. As far as we know, a month ago, Adrien and his Dad had a public argument that resulted in Gabriel slapping Adrien. Yes, this is totally horrible – no, I don’t think it’s some massively unforgiveable sin like I did originally (of course, if Gabriel were to APOLOGISE, I might want to forgive him… but he hasn’t.) It was still a bad thing to do – but on the scale of horrible things large corporate companies have done, it’s, unfortunately, pretty low.

So, what is my point? Honestly, Adrien’s fanbase (the people still fiercely spear-heading the #CancelGabrielAgreste movement) are the only people that have stopped interacting with the Gabriel brand. And, in all honesty, most of us could barely afford Gabriel’s stuff anyway (I saved up for 2 months to buy Adrien’s perfume. It was worth it.) so we’re honestly doing nothing!! Trying to prevent people from buying Gabriel’s stuff is like trying to swim upstream when you have no muscle mass. Impossible.

INSTEAD, I think we should push the board of directors to kick Gabriel Agreste out. Put someone better as the CEO – good people make money, bad people still have enough life savings to love comfortably for like 8 lifetimes, but stop profiting, which is the least of what they deserve. How do we do this?? Sign these petitions and speak out about it!!! I’m not a business savvy, but honestly, I see this being the only way we can make a difference. Tell your friends! Make them sign too.

As always, wishing all the best to all of you (including you, Adrien, if you’re reading this.) Signing off.

* * *

**Paris’ Main Source @WeeklyNewsFrance**

Are the Agreste’s just horrible people? Read the full article https://www.weeklynewsfr...

78.3k Retweets 226.4k Likes 31.9k Comments

**His ARMS @justastan**

HOW DARE YOU GROUP ADRIEN IN WITH HIS FATHER? ADRIEN IS NOT AN ABUSER AND SHOULDN’T BE TREATED LIKE THIS

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Ah, another large news network dragging a good celebrity’s name through the mud for page clicks… Adrien doesn’t deserve your slander #CancelGabrielAgreste

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life123**

Is this,,,, literally grouping Gabriel and Adrien in the same category??? If anybody believes this crap, y’all can fight me

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

And even more, adrien has said nothing about this – and you continue to drag him like this??? Honestly I refuse to support you anymore

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

Uh,,, are u kidding me right now. Adrien doesn’t deserve this. Stop putting useless clickbait in ur trashy articles

** _\- - - _ **

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

Here’s the daily reminder to stan adrien Agreste

12.1k Retweets 58.7k Likes 194 Comments

**Where TF is my wig @adrienette4life**

His content is, and has always been, unproblematic and super entertaining

**ADRIENETTE IS CANON @probablydying**

Ahh yes we stan an unproblematic king

** _\- - - _ **

**call me, beep me @TheLadyblogger** **✓**

New article up!! Higher number of akumas in the past month - More on my website www.theladyblog.co...

18.1k Retweets 45k Likes 11.1k Comment

**Darcy @throwawayaccount1**

Do you know anything about Adrien Agreste???

**Not right now @throwawayaccount2**

Have you heard from adrien recently??/ are the rumous true???

** _\- - - _ **

**Mister mixer @NinoLahiffe**

New mix up on my youtube! Go check it out

12.6k Retweets 72.8k Likes 4.9k Comments

**Ravioli is love @throwawayaccount3**

Do you still speak to adrien Agreste??

** Ravioli is life @throwawayaccount4**

Can you comment on the Gabriel Agreste/adrien situation pls?? ur fans would rlly appreciate it <3

** _\- - - _ **

**call me, beep me @TheLadyblogger** **✓**

since some of y’all haven’t got the memo: stop harassing me & adrien’s other friend on social media. No matter how much you pester, I am in no position to expose the private life of Adrien Agreste – and I won’t ever make a statement on his behalf unless he explicitly asks me to.

66.1k Retweets 169.2k Likes 13.2k Comments

* * *

_It has officially been a month and a half (45 days) since Adrien Agreste has been spotted in public. The ex-model has also been silent on all his social media platforms, including his YouTube account, which rose to fame almost a year ago. His girlfriend also hasn’t been spotted – although his close friend, Alya Cesaire, recently posted a statement saying her and Adrien’s other friends were being “harass[ed]” by fans for information, and she was “in no position” to make comments about Adrien’s situation._

Gabriel_’s new fashion line is set to drop in a few short weeks, with large numbers of adverts, and a huge launch party set up for the night. The elusive Gabriel Agreste has not yet confirmed whether he will be in attendance – although many are beginning to assume he won’t, considering his absence from the public eye before the scandal._

_For a while, _Gabriel_’s stocks dropped, but they have been steadily rising again as this drama ‘dies down.’ A group of teens have started a petition to get Gabriel Agreste removed as the CEO of his own company – it, however, has not been very successful._

_Will Adrien make a public statement? Will Gabriel Agreste attend his own launch party for the first time in ten years? Unfortunately, only time will tell._

* * *

** **

**Paris’ Main Source @WeeklyNewsFrance**

Neither Adrien nor Gabriel Agreste has addressed the night, almost two months ago; was the incident a one-off, or has this happened before, behind closed doors? Read the full article https://www.weeklynewsfr...

37.9k Retweets 104.3k Likes 11.6k Comments

**Darcy @throwawayaccount1**

Wow, people are still mad at this drama?? Move on, guys. Bigger things are happening than a prissy model getting slapped.

**His ARMS @justastan**

Glad to know we take child abuse seriously in this fandom (are you kidding me **@throwawayaccount1**??)

**Darcy @throwawayaccount1**

I’m being serious – adrien probably deserved it.

**His ARMS @justastan**

I can’t – I don’t even know how to explain this to you. This article is talking about potential child abuse, and you’re saying he probably deserved it???

**Darcy @throwawayaccount1**

Whatever.

**Ravioli is love @throwawayaccount3**

This is a little bit too far, right?? I mean it was just one slap…

** _\- - - _ **

**I have a youtube channel** **@AdrienAgreste ****✓**

[VID = Exposing Gabriel Agreste (1:09:52) ]

41.8k Retweets 196.9k Likes 28.5k Comments

**Where TF is my wig @adrienetteforlife123**

The vid is an HOUR LONG??? Also adrien sending all the love <3

**Crying in the club @adrienismyreligion**

What an iconic way to come back onto the internet 2 months later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW SO THAT HAPPENED!!
> 
> warning; this will be a long note
> 
> for those that are curious, here's what went into the #exposinggabriel video  
-interviews with past employees, discussing overtime, mis-treatment, lack of holidays, horrible sick pay, etc.  
-adrien's personal anecdotes - after his mother's disappearance, how he suddenly took a lot more jobs, stopped seeing his father around the house. How he was raised by his father's assistant and his bodyguard. how going to public school was used as a bargaining chip, and constantly held over his head. how he was unable to have friends over - ever - and wasn't allowed romantic relationships.  
-statements from a few of his friends (kagami, marinette, nino) to back up the last point.  
-the video taken at the gala (dark screen, with a transcription of every word Gabriel said to adrien.) (marinette got an influx of love from the fandom after they heard her supporting him after gabriel walked away the first time.)  
-and more. whatever 'exposing' videos you've seen before - think like that. if you can think it up, it's probably in there.
> 
> originally, I was going to write out the 'exposing gabriel agreste' video as an entire chapter, but it would be ginormous. because this fic is close to completion (a loud 'awwww' from the audience) i might find motivation to write it as a separate oneshot! if I do, I will make sure to plug it excessively here.
> 
> once again, thank you so so much for reading! don't forget to leave kudos and comments telling me what parts you enjoyed!! they make me really happy <3


	21. the aftermath, and the happily ever after

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> y'all... i can't

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS IT!!!! I'm sorry it took so long, and i'm sorry it's so short - but honestly, i'm really sad to see this one go (I held out as long as I could, haha!) This is by far my longest fic to date (my longest SERIES is 20k shorter than this so that's saying something) and it was so much fun to write. Ugh, sap. You disgust me.
> 
> I really hope you guys enjoy this final chapter!!

“Hey everyone! Adrien Agreste here – and welcome back! So, I know it’s been 2 and a half months, but as you all probably know, some stuff has been happening that we’re just… not going to talk about anymore! But, before all of that, this video was half filmed, and is finally coming out – I hope you enjoy!”

The camera cuts, and begins playing the footage Adrien had filmed of that night – him getting ready, picking Marinette up, and a cute montage to background music of different parts of the gala. After that, the camera shows a shaky clip of Marinette in the taxi back home. Her hands are clenched into fists, and she is looking out the window. Adrien films as he reaches out a hand to her fist, and her head darts to face him. She doesn’t even look at the camera – offering a soft smile to Adrien behind it, and uncurling her fist, allowing him to slot his fingers between hers. He squeezes her hand. She squeezes back.

“Alright!” Adrien says; the footage has cut again, and now he’s sitting in his dining room. “So, I should probably film an outro – I’m really tired, and you guys probably know about all the stuff that happened today – but yeah! Other than the end, that’s what a typical Gala-night looks like for me! So, goodnight, I guess.”

He waves at the camera, forcing a smile. The video ends.

* * *

“Good morning!” Adrien lies in bed, filming in a slightly lower quality than normal. His eyes look bleary and slightly squinted behind thick glasses. “This is editing Adrien, in all my glory – I just wanted to put a message out that this was being filmed from before the whole scandal, and has loads of parts from the past two months – so don’t be confused! As you already saw from the title, it’s the final part of my apartment decorating, and then the moving-in party we threw. Marinette actually moved in, because we’re finished school, and she was living here four or so days a week anyway – but we visits her parents loads! They’re actually within walking distance, so… yeah. Sorry. I’m rambling. Enjoy the video!”

“Hi everyone!” Adrien waves at the camera. “Today I’m standing in the hallway outside my apartment, probably weirding out all my neighbours with the sound of me talking to myself – because my friends are putting the final touches on all the rooms! It’s been really difficult avoiding stuff (I have cheated a little – I had to go into the kitchen and the bedroom, really) but today’s the first day I see them all!”

He knocks on his front door. “Guys?” Adrien asks. “Can I come in now?”

The door swings open and Alya grins at Adrien – and then at the camera. “Welcome,” she said. “Try not to give your girlfriend favouritism.”

Adrien walks in, and Nino takes the camera from him. Alya and Marinette are standing side-by-side next to the door, and Adrien embraces Marinette, giving her a tender kiss. “Boo!” Nino calls from behind the camera. “Do your PDA later. I’m filming!"

Adrien glares at Nino, who chuckles, continuing, “dude! Aren’t you going to go see your sick new living room?”

* * *

“Of _course _Marinette won,” Alya says quietly to Nino – seemingly unaware the camera is filming. “She’s literally his girlfriend, and that boy is _whipped.”_

“And she’s a designer,” Nino chimed in. “She just had an unfair advantage.”

Alya nodded, crossing her arms. “Hey; out of the two of us, who do you think came in second?”

Nino paled, but Alya was already calling out to Adrien. Marinette’s snickers could be heard from behind the camera.

* * *

“Moving-in party time!” Marinette says to the camera with a wide grin, a hand holding a tube of lipgloss outstretching enthusiastically. “Adrien’s in the shower, so I’ll get you guys an amazing shot of when he comes out – I know that’s what you all subscribed for.”

She turns the camera so that in the background is the door to the en suite, and begins to apply her lipgloss. “Seriously, I shouldn’t be whoring out my boyfriend like this,” she chuckles, smacking her lips a few times and rubbing some excess product, “but you’ve all seen his stuff, anyway. I mean – he was a model! He did underwear campaigns.”

The door opens, and Adrien – clad in a towel around his waist and nothing else – exits the bathroom. “Hey, Mari,” he says, moving half-out of frame to fiddle with the wardrobe. “Have you seen that cologne Nathalie bought me?”

“The woody one?” Marinette asks. “You left it by the front door – you thought it would help you remember to put it on.”

“Right,” he says, walking around the bed and leaning over to kiss Mari’s cheek. “Are you filming?”

“Yeah,” she says. “No proper kisses – I’m wearing lipgloss.”

Adrien rolls his eyes. “Not for long,” he mumbles.

“Excuse me?”

“Why did I ever put it by the front door?” Adrien asks, more to himself, as he makes his way out of the room. “I’m not even leaving the house…”

Marinette sighs and turns off the camera.

* * *

“One, two, three…” says Adrien.

“Thank you for watching!” The whole party cheers.

It would probably be unfair to call it a party – a large group of friends, all holding mildly alcoholic beverages, smiling at the camera. There’s his Lycee friends, and his kind-of-Lycee friends (Luka and Kagami have made their own sort of outsider-bubble, which Chloe somehow integrated herself into) and his work-friends (his ‘famous friends’, mari says) and of course Nathalie and Gideon in the back.

The ‘party’ waves at the camera, and Adrien reaches up to turn it off.

* * *

_ADRIEN WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!_

_Super cute video would 10/10 rec to a friend_

_Adrien is so strong and nobody talks about it like this boi bounced back so fast ,,, we could never_

_#adrienette for LIFE did he just say they MOVED IN TOGETHER???_

_Adrien in glasses,,,,,, ADRIEN IN GLASSES Y’ALL_

_Aww adrien invited his real parents, his father’s ex-assistant and his bodyguard, we stan a found family SO hard <3_

_ADRIEN BBY WE’RE SO HAPPY UR THRIVING_

_Have I ever told anyone adrien is my role model coz 100% he is_

_DID Y’ALL SEE MARI SUPPORTING ADRIEN SO MUCH LIKE BEING ANGRY ON HIS BEHALF AND IN THE EXPOSING VID 2 LIKE THESE 2 ARE RLLY IN LOVE_

_Can I just,,,, remind u guys of a darker time when Adrienette was not canon and we fought every day for these rights_

_Adrienette rlly said power couple rights they moved in together at 18 and are still going strong and are each other’s bestf’s, y’all could neverrr_

_Isn’t it a bit weird his dad’s staff r there???_

_Adrien has such a huge support system I love ittt_

_This positivity tho it makes him GLOW I love him_

_I LOVE HIM SO MUCHHHH UGH_

_Nooo adrien move in with me instead aha_

_MARI RLLY GAVE US THAT ADRIEN SHOT,,, AND HE LEFT IT IN WHILST EDITING THIS BOI KNOWS THE ENTIRE INTERNET THIRSTS OVER HIM AND HE LOVES ITTTT_

_#adrienagrestethirsttraprights2k20_

_He rlly had his final school exams, moved in with his girlfriend, worked consistently on content for his exposing vid, and still managed to flourisn in EVERYTHING_

_He managed to flourish but none y’all talkin bout how he also managed to MAINTAIN THAT 6 PACK BOIII_

* * *

**The wig was found @adrienette4life123**

OK BUT DID U GUYS SEE ADRIEN’S NEW #HUGOBOSS CAMPAIGN I CANNOTTTT THIS MAN EATS UP A SUIT LIKE IT’S NOTHING

15.8k Retweets 78.2k Likes 1.4k Comments

**Stream Lana Del Rey @adrienismyreligion**

He’s thriving not surviving and he’s making that cash

**His ARMS @justastan**

Boi rlly got companies fighting over him & fighting to sponsor his YT channel I stan one (1) mans

** _\- - -_ **

** **

** **

**ADRIENETTE FOREVER @probablydying**

Happy 2 year anniversary to the #Gabriel scandal hope y’all that still buy his shit know ur going to hell <3

617 Retweets 29.3k Likes 119 Comments

**Stream Lana Del Rey @adrienismyreligion**

It has NOT been 2 years bro

**His ARMS @justastan**

Lmao people rlly said with their whole chest that they’re supporting a child abuser who doesn’t even make that good clothes

**Stream Lana Del Rey @adrienismyreligion**

Are we just ignoring it’s been TWO WHOLE YEARS????

** _\- - -_ **

**call me, beep me @TheLadyblogger** **✓**

Top 10 #Ladynoir moments (before & whilst they’re dating) and top 5 moments we knew there was something before there was… https://www.theladyblog.co...

66.1k Retweets 169.2k Likes 13.2k Comments

**His ARMS @justastan**

Does anybody ever stop to appreciate the content we have now in comparison to when #ladynoir wasn’t canon

**ADRIENETTE FOREVER @probablydying**

Spdfoij do u remember #thatfoursome

**Stream Lana Del Rey @adrienismyreligion**

Bro ofc we do I wrote FANFIC about that shit & I still read the 350k slowburn poly fics ppl pump out

**The wig was found @adrienette4life123**

We rlly are so lucky to have such a talented fandom that never touched,,,,, wattpad

**ADRIENETTE FOREVER @probablydying**

PREACH I THANK THE LORD EVERY DAY

** _\- - -_ **

**I have a youtube channel** **@AdrienAgreste ****✓**

Y’all are _really _going to like this one [VID = I plan to propose to my girlfriend… but she proposes first!!? ]

141.8k Retweets 996.9k Likes 97.5k Comments

**I put the hot in thoT @OfficialMDC ****✓**

B-)

** ADRIENETTE FOREVER @probablydying**

OH MY GOOOOOOOOOD I-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (here is the part where you shower me with praise)
> 
> haha, jk! (a little.) there we go!!!! another fic, done and dusted. there are a couple things that didn't make the cut (and you never know, maybe I'll do a one-shot detailing the #exposinggabriel video and all that drama...) but i'm really happy with this!!! i just wanted to take another opportunity to tell you guys how wild and endless the support for this fic has been, how much it has meant to me, and how grateful i am for every single one of you reading <3
> 
> without further ado (and for the last time):
> 
> don't forget to leave a kudo!! and a comment!!! and thank you SO MUCH for reading !!!! <3


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